Withington | |
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Metrolink | |
Withington tram stop, on its opening day
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Location of Withington in Greater Manchester
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Location | |
Place | Withington |
Local authority | Manchester |
Coordinates | 53°25′59″N 2°15′00″W / 53.433°N 2.25°WCoordinates: 53°25′59″N 2°15′00″W / 53.433°N 2.25°W |
Grid reference | SJ833929 |
Platforms | 2 |
Fare zone information | |
Present status | In operation |
History | |
Opened | 23 May 2013 |
Withington is a tram stop on the South Manchester Line (SML) of Greater Manchester's light-rail Metrolink system. Located on the west side of Princess Road on the fringe of Withington in south Manchester, England, it was built as part of Phase 3b of the network's expansion, and opened on 23 May 2013 in a cutting within a section of the former Cheshire Lines Committee railway.
Withington is a new stop along what was the Cheshire Lines Committee line to Manchester Central railway station, which closed to passenger service in 1967. Proposals to re-open the line as part of Metrolink were made in the 1980s, but remained unfunded until 2006. The line extension took over the disused tracks of the Cheshire Lines Committee as far as East Didsbury tram stop.
In 2006, it was announced that Phase 3a of Metrolink's expansion project would go ahead, expanding the network as far St Werburgh's Road Metrolink station. Following the rejection of the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund in a public referendum in 2008, extension of the line as East Didsbury (Phase 3b) went ahead with funding from the alternate Greater Manchester Transport Fund.
Construction of the line began in April 2009 and part of the new line (to St Werburgh's Road) became operational in 2011. The extension to East Didsbury opened on 23 May 2013.