Firswood tram stop

 Firswood
Metrolink

Firswood tram stop, in August 2012
Firswood
Location of Firswood in Greater Manchester
Location
Place Firswood
Local authority Trafford
Coordinates 53°27′05″N 2°16′40″W / 53.4515°N 2.2778°W / 53.4515; -2.2778Coordinates: 53°27′05″N 2°16′40″W / 53.4515°N 2.2778°W / 53.4515; -2.2778
Grid reference SJ816949
Platforms 2
Fare zone information
Metrolink Zone P
Present status In operation
Operations
Original operator Manchester Metrolink
History
Opened 7 July 2011
UK Trams portal

Firswood is a tram stop on the South Manchester Line (SML) and Airport Line of Greater Manchester's light-rail Metrolink system. Located in the Firswood area of Trafford, it was built as part of Phase 3a of the network's expansion, and opened on 7 July 2011.[1]

Firswood Metrolink station is located on a section of the former Cheshire Lines Committee railway line, in a cutting adjacent to St John Vianney School on Rye Bank Road. The stop provides access to both Firswood and Whalley Range.

History

The station opened on 7 July 2011.[1] and is the first newly constructed station on the new South Manchester Metrolink line out of Manchester. Firswood is a new station on a re-opened railway line, the Cheshire Lines Committee line, which closed to passenger service in 1967. It was planned to re-open the line as part of the expansion of the Manchester Metrolink tram network.[2] Proposals to re-open the line have been put forward since the 1980s,[3] but remained unfunded until the 2000s. The line extension which was originally proposed would take over the disused tracks of the Cheshire Lines Committee as far as East Didsbury.

In 2006, it was announced that Phase 3A would go ahead, including the extension of the network as far St Werburgh's Road.[4] Following the rejection of the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund in a public referendum in 2008, extension of the line as East Didsbury (Phase 3B) will now go ahead with funding from national and local government.[2][5][6]

Construction of the line began in April 2009 and the new line became operational in July 2011.[1]

Services

Firswood is located on the South Manchester Line with trams towards Shaw and Crompton via Victoria and Oldham and to East Didsbury running every 12 minutes Monday-Saturdays and Sunday daytime and every 15 minutes Sunday early mornings and evenings.[7] Services extended from St Werburgh's Road to East Didsbury on 23 May 2013 and, from 3 November 2014, services ran to Manchester Airport from Cornbrook.

Service pattern

Peak times:

Offpeak times:

Connecting bus routes

Firswood is not served by any direct bus service but some services stop nearby to the stop. Stagecoach Manchester service 15 stops on King's Road and runs westbound to Flixton via Stretford and Urmston and eastbound to Manchester, while Stagecoach/Arriva North West service 84 stops on Seymour Grove and runs northbound to Manchester and southbound to Reddish via Chorlton, Withington Community Hospital and East Didsbury.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Metrolink's new Chorlton line opens for business". Transport for Greater Manchester. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
  2. 1 2 Linton, Deborah (13 May 2009). "£1.4bn transport deal unveiled". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
  3. Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (1984). "Light Rapid Transit in Greater Manchester". GMPTE. - publicity brochure
  4. "Metrolink extension is announced". BBC News. 6 July 2006. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  5. "Tram line extension is approved". BBC News. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
  6. "Metrolink: back on track?". BBC Manchester. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
  7. "Metrolink - Tram Times - Firswood". Metrolink. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  8. "Transport for Greater Manchester - Journey Planning - Network Maps". Transport for Greater Manchester. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
Preceding station   Manchester Metrolink   Following station
towards East Didsbury
East Didsbury – Victoria Line
towards Victoria
towards East Didsbury
Shaw and Crompton – East Didsbury Line
towards East Didsbury
East Didsbury – Deansgate-Castlefield Line
Manchester Airport - Cornbrook Line
towards Cornbrook
Manchester Airport - Firswood Line
3am-6am only
Terminus
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