Wharfside is a

tram stop A tram stop, tram station, streetcar stop, or light rail station is a place designated for a tram, streetcar, or light rail vehicle to stop so passengers can board or alight it. Generally, tram stops share most characteristics of bus stops, bu ...

on the

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink is a tram/light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has List of Manchester Metrolink tram stops, 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the Transport in the United Kingdom#Trams and light ra ...

's Trafford Park Line. It is located on Trafford Wharf Road, close to the

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

football stadium. It was originally proposed that the station be named Manchester United. It opened on 22 March 2020.

History

Wharfside tram stop and the tram tracks around the area run very close to the alignment of a section of the now derelict Trafford Park Railway. In 2013, the GMCA and the Greater Manchester

Local Enterprise Partnership In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) were voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses, set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local economic priorities and lead ec ...

announced that it may fund the construction of the Trafford Park Line as far as The Trafford Centre, estimating that the line could be open to passengers by 2018/19 (subject to a satisfactory business case, Transport and Works Act Order and public consultation). The first trams (3040 and 3014 coupled together) passed by Wharfside in the early hours of 10 November 2019 while on test. The stop opened to passengers on 22 March 2020, and the first passenger service tram (3073) stopped at Wharfside at exactly 06:37.

Layout

Wharfside is located next to the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West England, North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary at Eastham, Merseyside, Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it ...

and is the closest tram stop to the Old Trafford football stadium. The stop has two

side platforms A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a railway platform, platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or bus rapid transit, transitway. A st ...

. Two dot matrix passenger information displays hang from canopies, and show estimated arrival times for trams in minutes up to 30 minutes prior (up to three at a time) and number of carriages for one platform each. This stop has full step-free access.

Services

Services run every 12 minutes on all routes. Some routes (not shown here) only run during peak times. From this stop, services run to

Castlefield Castlefield is an inner-city conservation area in Manchester, North West England. The conservation area which bears its name is bounded by the River Irwell, A34 road, Quay Street, Deansgate and A56 road, Chester Road. It was the site of the Rom ...

Manchester city centre Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England, within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way, which collectively form an inner ring road. The City Centre ward had a ...

in one direction and to The Trafford Centre in the other.

Connecting transport

Bus

Wharfside tram stop is served closest by bus route X50 (

Worsley Worsley () is a village in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, which in 2014 had a population of 10,090. It lies along Worsley Brook, west of Manchester. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county ...

–

Piccadilly Gardens Piccadilly Gardens is a green space in Manchester city centre, England, on the edge of the Northern Quarter. It takes its name from the adjacent street, Piccadilly, which runs across the city centre from Market Street to London Road. The ga ...

) and 250 on Wharfside Way ( The Trafford Centre–Piccadilly Gardens).

Train

This tram stop is not connected to any railway stations, but the nearest one is

Trafford Park Trafford Park is an area of the metropolitan borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, opposite Salford Quays on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, southwest of Manchester city centre and north of Stretford. Until the la ...

, approximately 1.6 miles away walking.

References

{{Manchester Metrolink tram stops Tram stops in Trafford Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2020 Salford Quays Tram stops on the Trafford Centre – Deansgate route