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The Manc -
29th March 2020
The Manc -
29th March 2020 News
Andy Burnham reveals plans to build underground tram and train line in Manchester by 2050
Emily Sergeant
Andy Burnham has announced some ambitious long-term plans to build an underground tram and train line in Manchester.
As Greater Manchester sets its sights on a new era of economic growth, on the way to becoming a ‘second city’ to rival any other on the planet by 2050, Mayor Andy Burnham shared the city region’s blueprint for a ‘greener, fairer future’ this week – with underground transport plans being right the heart of it.
Mr Burnham says his vision for the next decade is to create a ‘thriving’ city region where everyone can ‘live a good life’.
At the launch of The Greater Manchester Strategy 2025-2035 this week, the Mayor announced everything from plans to build thousands of new homes, including social housing, to intentions to transform the region’s technical education system through delivery of the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc), and more.
But it’s public transport where it seems some of the most significant changes are set to be made before 2050 arrives.
The Mayor revealed plans for new bus routes, tramlines, and train stations to connect ‘thriving communities’ across the city region with an integrated lower-cost transport system that’ll help more people get out and access new opportunities.
Construction of a tram stop to service new homes at Victoria North will also start by 2028, it has been confirmed, while work to bring Metrolink to Stockport – which has already been announced to huge support – will begin by 2030.
Two commuter rail lines will join the Bee Network next December as well, with another six joining by 2028.
GM is growing fast.
— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) July 10, 2025
We will expand @BeeNetwork over the next decade to meet the needs of our bigger economy.
BUT
There’s a limit to what we can do on a congested surface.
It’s why I am asking TfGM to start planning for an underground for GM around a remodelled Piccadilly. pic.twitter.com/k2ozNWw6Wj
The headline-grabbing announcement, though, has to be that Mr Burnham has also announced plans to unlock ‘transformative’ investment in transport infrastructure, so that by 2050, Manchester Piccadilly has an underground tram and train station with a high-speed rail link to Liverpool.
He’s also looking to boost regeneration of the surrounding area, effectively making it ‘the Kings Cross of the North’.
“We’re the UK’s fastest growing economy and stand on the cusp of what I believe could be our best decade since the Victorian era,” commented Mayor Andy Burnham, “and our task for the next decade is to build a platform for success for all our residents.
Read more:
- Trams are officially coming to Stockport as part of £2.5bn investment package
- Greater Manchester residents urged to ‘switch to the Bee Network’ in 2025
- Authorities prepare to ‘turn the tide’ on Greater Manchester’s housing crisis
“Our vision is ambitious, but in my eight years as Mayor, I’ve learned that, when we pull together, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.
“There’s a long and proud tradition of collaboration in Greater Manchester. Devolution has turbocharged that and now we’re ready to deliver a new model of growth where no one is left behind.”
Featured Image – Maria Lupan (via Unsplash)
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A preview of a promising philanthropic project as Embassy Village makes progress
Danny Jones
Embassy Village, the upcoming homeless village that is set to open in Manchester, is making quick progress, and we recently got to preview the project with an early tour of the site.
Located just outside the city centre proper in Castlefield and near the border into Salford, the humanitarian housing project is looking to provide not just shelter but food and drink, employment, education and all manner of support to local rough sleepers.
Starting out as a controversial shipping container concept, which would have seen repurposed bits of old freight cargo turned into ‘pods’, the idea has grown since then and now
In fact, they’re not far from being done, with the team currently predicting a November finish date. Here’s how it’s looking so far.
Situated along a slice of the Bridgewater Canal, running along the length of the recognisable railway arches – 22 of them, to be precise – Embassy Village is set to become the first privately-funded homeless community not just in the UK but anywhere in Europe.
As far as the group behind this inspiring bit of philanthropy can tell in researching for this development, they haven’t found anything like this anywhere on the continent, certainly not on this scale.
Starting out as a repurposed luxury tour bus turned mobile rough sleeping shelter, they have since gone on to run three male and two women’s shelters, helping more than 175 individuals get back on their feet, from being rehomed to getting back into work and, ultimately, living independently.
Created by co-founder and director Sid Williams back in 2018, who has already helped countless vulnerable adults in and around Greater Manchester, there is a lot of faith behind this initiative, quite literally, in fact.
Sid and his wife Tess, who has also been helping spearhead Embassy‘s work here in the UK, are passionate Christians, but there’s no dogmatic or preachy vibes to be detected – at least as far as we could tell, anyway.
Besides a nice ‘tithing’ idea, which sees 10% of all unrestricted funds from the village donated to relevant charities in the region and further afield, the only real Christian value being promoted here is ‘love thy neighbour’, and that’s the kind of ethos we can get behind regardless of creed.
You can see some of the old fashioned values in aspects such as the public hall seen above, where people will not only be encouraged to gather but learn, create, socialise and once again start to reintegrate into a proper community.
There’ll even be parts of the Embassy’s ‘resettlement team’ living on-site to help get people back on their feet, with at least one dedicated staff member assigned to every six residents.
As Sid put it in a spin on the well-trodden old proverb, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’, he believes that sometimes, “it takes a city to raise a village.”
Those staying here will not be given a leg up back into the working world, providing inroads to full-time contracts and a proper wage, but they will also be encouraged to take up wellbeing activities, taken on trips and away days beyond the city limits and Greater Manchester full stop.
With dozens of local businesses contributing to the construction of Embassy Village, they’ve now managed to raise more than £5.2 million in funding.
As well as backing from developers Capital & Centric (led by Salford-born Tim Heatley) and the likes of regeneration specialist Peel L&P, who made the land available, there are several other organisations chipping in to help house upwards of 40 different individuals.
That being said, they are still roughly £400,000 short of their desired target, which will help them build every aspect of Embassy Village they’re hoping to make come to fruition, so further partnerships are obviously welcome.
Following an official update from Manchester City Council, we can also now confirm that the space will link up to the soon-to-be expanded Castlefield Viaduct, where three of four currently out-of-use tram lines will be turned into one long sky garden, similar to New York’s famous High Line.
The National Trust has announced that the @NTCastleDuct 'sky park' has received a whopping £2.75m funding towards a major extension. 🌿🏙
— The Manc (@TheMancUK) July 9, 2025
Read more here👇https://t.co/JiCqhu0toa
Following our tour of Embassy Village so far, there was one salient takeaway: there are a lot of people who really care about this cause working on this project.
Is it perfect? Maybe not? Would it be great if we could simply end Greater Manchester’s rough sleeping crisis by housing every rough sleeper in a traditional home, or one of the many new build properties in 0161? Of course it would, but we sadly all know it isn’t as simple as that.
Nevertheless, this current option is damn sight better than the alternative: allowing more and more people to end up on the streets, bouncing in and out of shelters, struggling with addiction, mental health and so on. They’re trying and they already have a proven track record spanning more than half a decade.
You can get a better idea of what it will look like when completed down below.
Read more:
- ‘Eyesore’ Northern Quarter car park to be redeveloped as ambitious new neighbourhood
- MCR’s 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness raises a whopping £50k for ‘A Bed Every Night’
- ‘Major milestone’ as planning permission secured to transform Oldham town centre
For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.
Featured Images — The Manc Group
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