Tram-train will link 'forgotten' towns says mayor

The service would run via Atherton and could connect Bolton and Leigh to the Metrolink

Greater Manchester's mayor has said towns left out of a new transport funding boost have not been "forgotten", as he revealed plans for a new tram-train service.

Andy Burnham said full details of a proposed new transport link that would connect Bolton and Leigh to the Metrolink system via Atherton would be published next month.

It comes after the government announced £2.5bn in extra transport funding for the tram network to extend to Stockport and see added stops in Bury, Manchester and Oldham.

Burnham told BBC Radio Manchester he wanted "all our boroughs to be connected by a Metrolink style service".

The mayor was challenged by listener Alison while on BBC Radio Manchester's phone-in, who asked why the £2.5bn cash injection made no mention of Bolton.

She said: "Has Bolton been forgotten yet again? When, when, when will Bolton be linked to the Metrolink?"

Burnham said the town had not been "cut out of the picture or forgotten", and a plan to connect Bolton and Leigh to the Metrolink service via Atherton would be published next month.

This would see the use of tram-trains, able to operate both on tram tracks and existing rail lines, he said.

'Attractive place'

The mayor said the reason Bolton had not been included in the chancellor's announcement was that transport schemes elsewhere in the region were "more viable at this moment in time. "

He also said that rail passengers would see other, non-infrastructure changes in Bolton soon.

He said: "Two rail lines which connect via Bolton are coming into the Bee Network by 2028.

"That means Bolton will all of a sudden be a very attractive place from a travel point of view.

"Passengers will be able to tap in at Bolton station and they'll be in the Bee Network cap. That's going to be a change that comes quicker than any new infrastructure.

"In effect, those services will be like Metrolink, they'll be quicker and passengers will be in the same system."