In July, the British Secretary of State for
Transport announced that funding for a
three-line expansion of Greater Manchester’s
light rail network, Metrolink, was “not
approved” due to rising costs.
A major lobbying campaign was launched
to get this decision reversed backed by
Greater Manchester MPs and councillors,
the business community, local people and
the media.
In September, over 41,500 pledges of
support were presented to the British
Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street and
this was followed by a mass lobby of
Parliament in November.
A working party has been established to look at detailed revised proposals for
expanding Metrolink.
The group is chaired
by the UK Transport Minister and
includes representatives from Greater
Manchester Passenger Transport Authority
and Executive, the Department for
Transport and a Greater Manchester MP.
It is hoped that a decision could be
made before the end of the year.