Altrincham Tram Closure: 14 Days Off, Bus Starts at Sale

Update, 27 September 2026: TfGM’s stop-by-stop advice now confirms that no replacement bus will run from Altrincham, Navigation Road, Timperley, Brooklands or Dane Road. It also says tram season tickets and travelcards will be accepted on Northern trains between Altrincham and Manchester and on the 263 bus, which is getting extra buses. Details: Altrincham tram closure: passes valid on train and 263 bus.

Transport for Greater Manchester has published the replacement bus routes for the fortnight in October when the Altrincham tram line closes. None of the four routes serves Altrincham. The nearest one starts at Sale, four stops up the line.

From Monday 19 October to Sunday 1 November, no trams will run on the Altrincham, Trafford Centre or Eccles lines while TfGM works at Deansgate-Castlefield and Trafford Bar. Services return from the start of service on Monday 2 November (TfGM: Deansgate-Castlefield and Trafford Bar works).

That is fourteen days, not a Sunday morning. It is the longest planned break in Altrincham’s tram service this year.

The four routes TfGM has published

The works page carried no route list when we checked it on 7, 10 and 17 September, when both the service-pattern and replacement-bus sections read that more information would be added in due course. The routes are now on the page:

Four Altrincham-line stops are not on any of them

The Altrincham line runs Altrincham, Navigation Road, Timperley, Brooklands, Sale, Dane Road, Stretford, Old Trafford, Trafford Bar (TfGM Metrolink network map).

The published shuttle picks up at Sale and runs north. That leaves four stops with nothing:

• Altrincham
• Navigation Road
• Timperley
• Brooklands

Dane Road is not named on the route either, although it sits between Sale and Stretford.

TfGM’s page ends the replacement bus section with the sentence “Replacement bus timetables and stops will in advance of the closure.” The sentence is incomplete as published, and the page gives no date for when the timetables and stops will appear.

The train is the obvious answer, and it is not a tram

Altrincham is one of the few stops on the line with a second railway. Northern’s Chester to Manchester service leaves from platform 3 at Altrincham Interchange, the same building as the trams, and runs to Manchester Piccadilly in 28 minutes, roughly hourly through the day.

It is also cheaper than the tram: £3.10 for an off-peak single, £4.40 anytime, £6.20 off-peak return (National Rail timetable and fares).

Tram works do not affect it. Navigation Road also has a rail platform on the same line. Timperley and Brooklands do not.

Our Altrincham tram times page sets out the full timetable and every ticket price for both.

Tickets on a replacement bus

Three rules apply whenever TfGM runs replacement buses, and they are worth knowing before 19 October:

• Any tram ticket valid for all the zones of your journey is valid on a replacement bus.
• A 1-day Bee Bus ticket (adult, child or family) is also valid.
• You cannot buy a ticket from the driver. Buy at the tram stop machine or in the Bee Network app first, or tap in at the tram stop if you use Tap and Go, and tap out at a tram stop at the end (TfGM tram improvement works).

What still runs on the network in that fortnight

Trams keep going elsewhere, but not through Trafford Bar:

• East Didsbury and Manchester Airport services terminate at Firswood.
• Rochdale line services terminate at Exchange Square.
• Shaw and Crompton to Exchange Square at peak.
• Bury to Ashton-under-Lyne, Bury to Etihad Campus at peak, and Victoria to Etihad Campus after peak.

Before that: two weeks of city centre works

The October fortnight is the third disruption in a row for Altrincham passengers, and the first two are already running.

• Monday 21 to Saturday 26 September: no trams via Market Street and Shudehill. All Altrincham services run to Bury via Exchange Square and do not call at Piccadilly Gardens, Piccadilly, Market Street or Shudehill.
• Sunday 27 September to Friday 2 October: works at Piccadilly Gardens. Altrincham to Bury trams go back via Market Street but still miss Piccadilly Gardens and Piccadilly.

What it means for you: if you commute from Altrincham, Navigation Road, Timperley or Brooklands, do not plan on a replacement bus in the October fortnight until TfGM publishes one. On today’s information your options are the Northern train from Altrincham or Navigation Road, driving or being dropped to Sale for the 10-minute shuttle, or a Bee Network bus. TfGM’s car park at Sale is free for Metrolink users (Metrolink Access Guide), but it fills early on weekdays and will be under more pressure than usual for those two weeks. Our Altrincham roadworks and travel page tracks the week-by-week changes, and we will report TfGM’s replacement bus timetables and stops the day they are published.

Sources

• TfGM: Deansgate-Castlefield and Trafford Bar works for the 19 October to 1 November closure dates, the lines with no service, the four replacement shuttle routes and their frequencies, the services that continue, and the wording on replacement bus timetables and stops. Read 21 September 2026.
• TfGM: tram improvement works for the Market Street and Shudehill works of 21 to 26 September, the Piccadilly Gardens works of 27 September to 2 October, and the ticketing rules on replacement buses.
• TfGM Metrolink network map and zones for the order of stops on the Altrincham line.
• National Rail timetable and fares, Altrincham to Manchester Piccadilly for the 28-minute journey time, the hourly pattern, platform 3 and the £3.10 off-peak and £4.40 anytime singles, checked for Monday 21 September 2026.