Metrolink (also known as Manchester Metrolink) is a light rail tram system in Greater Manchester, England. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and operated and maintained under contract by RATP Group. In 2015/16, 34.3 million passenger journeys were made on the system. The network consists of seven lines which radiate from Manchester city centre to termini at Altrincham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bury, East Didsbury, Eccles, Manchester Airport and Rochdale. Metrolink has 93 stops along 57 miles (92 km) of standard-gauge track making it the largest light rail system in the United Kingdom. It consists of a mixture of on-street track shared with other traffic; reserved track, segregated from other traffic, often running alongside the roadway or in the central reservation, and converted former railway lines. It is operated by a fleet of Bombardier Flexity Swift M5000s. A light rail system for Greater Manchester emerged from the failure of the 1970s Picc-Vic tunnel scheme to obtain central government funding. A light-rail scheme was proposed in 1982 as the least expensive rail-based transport solution for Manchester city centre and the surrounding Greater Manchester metropolitan area. Government approval was granted in 1988 and the network began operating services between Bury Interchange and Victoria on 6 April 1992, becoming the United Kingdom's first modern street-running rail system; the 1885-built Blackpool tramway being the only heritage tram system in the UK that had survived up to Metrolink's creation.
