Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

• Terence Carr, Stockport, UK

  Ancestrally Stockport belongs to Cheshire as Manchester does to Lancashire but that has little practical meaning today. It's part of Greater Manchester, like Oldham or Sale. Like them however, it's not Manchester, and though most of us Stopfordians are very happy and proud indeed to be associated with that great city, we value our own distinct identity too. That's not the point though. Perhaps Stockport's exclusion from Manchester's Metrolink, now seemingly to be permanent, will serve only to re-enforce that distinction.We can't complain. With trains to Manchester every five minutes of the day, I think we win all round.

• Dr Neil Clifton, Barnoldswick

  Metrolink is an excellent system. Now we need light rail in Leeds as well, preferably with tram-trains reaching out to Bingley and Ilkley over existing railway lines, with new lines to Yeadon Airport and Otley.

• Keith R, Stockport

  Stockport residents contributed to the cost of the tram for the other "Manchester" regions and was promised that the tram would come to Stockport - yet 15+ years later, still nothing!
  Regarding Stockport and the link to Greater Manchester commented on above - the people of Stockport were not consulted by the Thatcher Government about changing our boundry. You will find that most envelopes still state "Stockport, Cheshire"

• Bilal Bham, Preston, England

  Why on earth cant we have an underground system in Manchester? As an ex-student used to taking an age and a day on a bus from Fallowfield to Manchester University, one single line running from Didsbury all the way to the city centre running directly under Wilmslow Road/Oxford Road would significantly increase speed of transfer, reduce the number buses and hence congestion and lower pollution! If the rest of Europe and even Liverpool can invest the money AND make it back, why cant we? That way, with an eventual network of underground lines, can the government be vindicated in its attempt to charge cars travelling into the city ala London!

• Markus, Buxton, England

  Finally some investment outside London. We need more investment in the Railway Industry and projects to be released to secure jobs and keep people employed. After all it is a greener way to travel.
  Markus (CEM/CRE), Derbyshire.
  

• p watkin, Bristol, uk

  Great to see that rail services continue to expand in one of UK's go-ahead cities. C'mon Bristol, where are you ?!

• P Jenkins, Neath, Wales

  Good news, nice to hear some UK investment for a change.

• Chris P, Manchester

  For the record Stockport is NOT part of Cheshire and hasn't been since 1974 when it became a metroploitan borough of Greater Manchester,

• Martyn G, Manchester

  Oh but dont forget pound per mile by tram is significantly higher than by heavy rail...it's about time the PTE focused on all transport modes not just bus and tram (which they own) then maybe we could have better trains

• Mark Ovenden, Paris (formerly Manchester resident), France

  This is a project that has a history dating back to the sixties, if not beyond.
  
  Manchester missed out on a heavy rail underground connection between its two major terminals in the 1970s (when Liverpool built the excellent loop line & Newcastle got the go-ahead for Metro). What replaced 'Picc-Vic' was Metrolink and after a number of promises, false starts and changes of mind by various Treasury influences the extensions (thanks to tireless work by the PTE and others) are finally coming to fruition.
  
  There are actually more extensions (The 'Second City Crossing', Town centre links into Oldham and Rochdale, Stockport as mentioned by Simon above, and the Trafford Centre) which have all been examined, prepared, lobbied for and costed... but those it seems are going to have to wait until the outcome of the next election, when the true colours of the next lot/or Britain's first coalition for many years... will be interesting if not potentially a little frustrating to observe!
  Having said that, it is clear that the undeniable success of Metrolink is a huge beacon for those campaigning for better urban rail provision for the big conurbations outside the capital, so bravo, cheers to all involved, kudos where its due....and lets hope things continue to improve!!
  
  

• H Harvey, Birmingham

  Light Rail is great especially when it takes up road space.
  Using heavy rail formations is just DfT wants as this will make heavy rail resurrection difficult.
  
  

• A Browne, Colwyn Bay

  Stockport, Cheshire? Ahh there we are, not part of Greater Manchester then. Best go and see Chester and see how you get on there..... :-)

• les Burge, leicester, england

  Lucky Manchester...........
  It's also nice to see money being spent outside LONDON.

• Mr P Gunshon, Hyde, Cheshire

  Well Its about time the extensions are coming into being, we had all this money promised to manchester years ago only to be snatch off us at the last minute and then blackmailed by certain officials saying yes you can have the funding if you have a Congestion Charge round Manchester. if we have a good transport system more people will use it which in turn takes cars off the roads. Hooray

• Simon H, Stockport, Cheshire

  Surely it would make sense to extend the East Didsbury line to Stockport?