Disabled test out Rochdale’s Metrolink

An unscheduled, bright-yellow works tram pulled into the Maclure Road tram stop just before 1pm today (14 February) carrying a party of disabled people with the intention of testing out the stops along the line to make sure that they were ‘disability-friendly’

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An unscheduled, bright-yellow works tram pulled into the Maclure Road tram stop just before 1.00pm today (14 February) carrying a party of disabled people with the intention of testing out the stops along the line to make sure that they were ‘disability-friendly’.

Castleton’s Frank Salt, together with his guide-dog Lewis, said it was his proud boast to be Rochdale’s first resident to alight from a tram in Rochdale this century.

Frank, a long time fan of anything that runs on rails, has been very involved in the project to return trams once again to the borough’s streets, although Lewis remains silent on the subject!

The tram also carried users of self-propelled as well as powered wheelchairs and they were giving feedback and suggestions to Metrolink officials who accompanied them on the  journey.

The timing of the test trams has fuelled speculation that a full service could be in operation soon, although Metrolink is staying tight-lipped on the subject.