Mayor announces underground trains and trams plan for Manchester

A new underground system for trains and trams is being planned for Manchester city centre, the mayor has said.

As he outlined the region’s 10-year strategy, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said it was “essential” to the city’s future economic prosperity that a transport system was built underground.

He said he envisaged two lines in the city – one running from North to South and the other East to West – with Manchester Piccadilly Station at the centre as the “Kings Cross of the north of England”.

“This isn’t a pipe dream – we will not accept anything else,” he said.

He said planning needed to start now for an underground system “as we get towards the 2040s going towards the 2050s”.

The mayor said the development would see a new underground station in Manchester Piccadilly alongside the new Liverpool-Manchester railway line.

He told BBC Radio Manchester: “I don’t feel adventurous saying this – it is essential.

“This city is the fastest growing in the UK and my message to government is that you can’t take this growth for granted.”

“We’ve got a bigger and bigger economy – every year more people are working here, more people are studying here and more people visiting here.”

The mayor said going underground was the only option as the land above was needed for development and attracting businesses.

“You would be creating a source of business rates for decades,” he said.

Burnham said this could create the kind of regeneration at Manchester Piccadilly that has taken place around London’s Kings Cross station.

He added: “Piccadilly should be the Kings Cross of the north of England – it could be the beating heart of the northern economy.”

Manchester politicians have previously toyed with an underground plan from Piccadilly to Victoria stations with a subterranean tunnel in the 1970s nicknamed “Picc-Vic” which was ultimately shelved.

As he outlined the new plan on Wednesday night, Burnham said: “I want TfGM [Transport for Greater Manchester] to start preparing the original, first concept for what an underground for Manchester might look like. I’m going to open the earliest conversation with the government on what the funding mechanism will look like.”

The BBC has contacted the Department for Transport for a comment.

Other pledges made by Burnham included the introduction of half-price bus travel for 18-21 year olds from September and a free 24-hour bus travel pilot program for older and disabled people to begin in August.

A new tram stop to service new homes in Victoria North, the extension of Metrolink to Stockport and commuter lines being brought into the Bee Network have also been included.