Tram claim dismissed

GREATER Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) bosses have defended an accusation that they tried to cover up the cost of the temporary Metrolink line to Oldham.

They claim the irrecoverable costs of the 1.5-mile twin route — which will be ripped up after a few years of use — will be approximately £4 million.

Newly-laid rails along the route of the former railway line between Featherstall Road and Oldham Mumps, together with electrification and signalling equipment, will be removed once trams start to run along Union Street.

But Oldham’s Euro-MP Chris Davies said the work was “astonishingly cheap” compared with the £80 million price of building the Metrolink through the town.

Mr Davies said the situation would be embarrassing for all concerned to see a state-of-the-art tram line abandoned and utterly destroyed just a short time after completion.

He said: “It represents a terrible waste of money when so many other public transport improvements are having to be deferred.

“I am suspicious of the figure given by GMPTE for the work — either this is the cheapest tram scheme in the entire country by far, or there has been some creative accounting to give the impression that the costs are lower than will really be the case.”

Chief executive David Leather admitted the £4 million figure does not include the costs of demolishing bridges at Mumps, constructing a level crossing across the Oldham Way dual carriageway, or rebuilding the road once the trams cease to run.

He said these costs are accounted for under the next phase of work and that the total budgeted costs for the permanent Oldham extension is £89 million.

Philip Purdy, GMPTE’s Metrolink director, said: “The current Mumps to Featherstall Road section has to be converted into a Metrolink line in order for trams to reach Oldham Mumps during autumn this year, but costs will be kept to a minimum.

“Rather than laying entirely new track through this section, we will be reusing as much of the existing heavy rail track as possible.

“When the line through Oldham town centre opens during spring 2014, we will decommission that section and then reuse and recycle as much of the equipment, fixtures and infrastructure as possible on other sections of the network.”

He said that to just wait for the town centre line would have delayed the arrival of any trams to Oldham by several years.