Calculating the fastest Manchester Metrolink journey
From this video: What’s the fastest Manchester Metrolink journey? - Metrolink Insights
After seeing multiple videos talking about the Leicester Square - Covent Garden shortest London Underground journey, I wondered what the equivalent would be for the Manchester Metrolink, so I recorded and documented myself doing the experiment here on YouTube, and thought I would post a written version of what I did on the different days to figure out what the shortest possible journey is, and how I’m confident that I’m correct.
I conducted this experiment a few times off camera and a few times on camera published on YouTube between July and December 2024. I timed ten different journeys all between two consecutive stops on the Manchester Metrolink three times in each direction, inbound (towards the city centre) and outbound (away from it). This gave a total of six runs for every journey. The fastest of the inbound and outbound runs was then singled out, and the fastest of those two singled out runs is what counted towards the final result.
I did not start the timer when the tram started moving, but specifically when I heard the distinct and short sound of the tram brakes unlocking . The same sound is made when the tram brakes lock again, which is when I stopped the timer again to get the measurement. I did this instead of relating the stopwatch measurements to doors opening or physical movement of the tram due to drivers sometimes waiting or delaying slightly when moving away from a stop after lifting the brakes, or more noticeably, drivers sometimes waiting to open the doors after coming to a safe stop.
With that out of the way, the ten journeys I picked were chosen because I had done research and measurements of other journeys across the network beforehand (June 2024), and also used other YouTube videos of journeys on the Manchester Metrolink to confirm my recordings. I ended up with these ten journeys as being the shortest across the network:
Anchorage - Harbour City (Eccles Line),
Harbour City - Broadway (Eccles Line),
Oldham King Street - Oldham Central (Oldham and Rochdale Line),
Milnrow - Kingsway Business Park (Oldham and Rochdale Line),
Kingsway Business Park - Newbold (Oldham and Rochdale Line),
Withington - Burton Road (South Manchester Line),
Burton Road - West Didsbury (South Manchester Line),
Robinswood Road - Peel Hall (Airport Line),
Baguley - Roundthorn (Airport Line),
Benchill - Crossacres (Airport Line).
Yes, Market Street - Piccadilly Gardens is the shortest distance between two Metrolink stops (255 metres in track length, 160 metres walking from platform to platform), however it is not the fastest. The journeys above all average at about 60 seconds, and Market Street - Piccadilly Gardens was recorded fastest at 70 seconds in 2025 (drivers operated with little interference from pedestrians; the measurement was taken on an early Sunday morning).
Inbound (Harbour City <— Anchorage) 78.53, 80.02, 80.79
Outbound (Harbour City —> Anchorage) 57.88, 61.70, 55.37
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Inbound (Broadway <— Harbour City) 59.62, 67.78, 68.88
Outbound (Broadway —> Harbour City) 91.99, 97.60, 96.43
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Inbound (Oldham King Street <— Oldham Central) 61.95, 61.85, 59.14
Outbound (Oldham King Street —> Oldham Central) 61.91, 57.56, 62.16
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Inbound (Milnrow <— Kingsway Business Park) 68.66, 69.65, 69.65
Outbound (Milnrow —> Kingsway Business Park) 61.04, 69.63, 67.00
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Inbound (Kingsway Business Park <— Newbold) 62.09, 60.24, 63.34
Outbound (Kingsway Business Park —> Newbold) 70.46, 72.24, 65.03
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Inbound (Withington <— Burton Road) 60.44, 58.36, 67.30
Outbound (Withington —> Burton Road) 63.23, 68.99, 63.91
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Inbound (Burton Road <— West Didsbury) 54.51, 57.64, 63.91
Outbound (Burton Road —> West Didsbury) 60.47, 61.53, 59.99
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Inbound (Robinswood Road <— Peel Hall)56.93, 59.41, 57.36
Outbound (Robinswood Road —> Peel Hall) 88.88, 93.79, xx.xx (obvious outlier)
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Inbound (Baguley <— Roundthorn) 65.88, 71.60, 61.91
Outbound (Baguley —> Roundthorn) 58.58, 57.49, 59.77
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Inbound (Benchill <— Crossacres) 62.78, 59.78, 57.41
Outbound (Benchill —> Crossacres) 50.39, 52.78, 52.44
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The fastest of the ten journeys was Benchill > Crossacres (outbound), 50.39 seconds. Weather conditions on a few different days of filming (most notably, the fog and mist during journeys 6, 7, and 9) meant limited visibility for drivers, and in turn limited speeds on some sections. These journeys include Burton Road - West Didsbury (54.51 sec inbound, journey #7) previously thought to be the fastest journey, so I did some maths, obviously taking acceleration and deceleration into account (0-10mph ≈ 10 metres ≈ 5 sec, 0-20mph ≈ 40 metres ≈ 10 sec, 0-30mph ≈ 90 metres ≈ 15 sec etc.). Obviously drivers will not drive perfectly like this, but all that’s important is that the calculations are all done the exact same way, as we’re only trying to figure out which is fastest relative to other journeys calculated with the same method (if I took information from the below calculations, for example, and compared it with the recordings I took in real life, that would not be valid).
e.g. Burton Road - West Didsbury, inbound (speed limit 50mph, track distance 613m) = 150m accel + m cruising + 150m decel = ~20 sec + (293m/40mph) + ~20 sec = 56.39 sec
Using this method, we get:
#1, Anchorage > Harbour City, outbound (speed limit 10mph then 30mph, track distance 288m, single tram) = 55.96 sec
#6, Withington — Burton Road, inbound/outbound (speed limit 50mph, track distance 705m) = 59.17 sec
#7, Burton Road > West Didsbury, outbound (speed limit 50mph, track distance 613m) = 55.06 sec
#9, Baguley > Roundthorn, outbound (speed limit 30mph, track distance 525m) = 55.72 sec
#10, Benchill — Crossacres, inbound/outbound (speed limit 30mph, track distance 431m) = 48.71 sec
Benchill - Crossacres still wins, but the fastest recorded measurement in real life so far by me is 50.39 seconds. The tram signals for the road crossing at Woodend Road (the only real interference) often do not clear until the driver has gotten close, which makes it difficult to get a run faster than 51 seconds on this route. In another video, I talked about this fastest journey again, and it was timed at just over 52 seconds (with the aforementioned signals at Woodend Road at stop limiting the driver’s speed temporarily). The distance between the two stops is 430 metres as measured on Google Maps, from the southern end of both Benchill and Crossacres’ respective platforms, reflecting how far the driver’s cab (and therefore the tram of course) travels.
