Rochdale Line works (22 March 2026)
On Sunday, 22 March 2026, for the entire service day, the entire Oldham and Rochdale Line (between Irk Valley Junction and Rochdale Town Centre) was closed for “engineering works” as was stated on the TfGM website. However, it was less engineering works and more moving equipment into place in preparation for the actual track renewals due to happen later this year. In short, it was a mobilisation blockade.
Previous closures of the Rochdale line were only between Freehold and Rochdale Town Centre, implying that most of the work happening today was between Freehold and Irk Valley Junction (west of Monsall, junction with Bury Line), plus Monsall and Newton Heath and Moston were stated as focus locations for track renewal works in 2026.
My full YouTube video on the works releases 29 March 2026 on Metrolink Capture.
One of the replacement buses.
Replacement buses ran every 15 minutes (or at least they very much attempted to) between Rochdale Town Centre and Victoria, skipping Oldham Central, as it is in a pedestrianised area.
Replacement bus signage at Central Park. Hasn’t been taken down as of 24 March.
There are currently 2 TSRs (Temporary Speed Restrictions) at Monsall due to track conditions: 5mph outbound (towards Rochdale), and 10mph inbound (towards Manchester).
Looking east from Monsall. The inbound track geometry (to the right) is quite visibly off and in need of renewal.
You can easily see how disfigured the inbound track is looking from Monsall tram stop. This is where a 10mph TSR is in place.
I travelled over to Monsall on the replacement bus in the morning and went back quite a few times to try and understand fully what was happening on the tram lines.
RRV (Road-Rail Vehicle) rolling through Monsall. Identified as a Liebherr R920 Rail Bug.
I saw a couple of RRVs carrying concrete sleepers and some brand-new rails through Monsall tram stop.
The access point west of Central Park tram stop, viewed from the track crossing at Central Park.
There were two of these RRVs – one travelling back and forth on each track – from a cleared-out area west of Central Park tram stop to an area west of Monsall Street bridge, a distance of about 700m.
Initial site near Central Park, seen cleared out.
This site and an entrance through to the Metrolink tracks was cleared several months in advance for 22 March.
Looking towards Central Park, the two RRVs positioned on the two tracks.
No track renewal works actually took place on 22 March 2026; it seems that the blockade was only for moving equipment into place for the track renewal works to happen later in the year.
The moved concrete sleepers and rails west of Monsall Street bridge.
There are a few more blockades planned on the Rochdale Line in May, June, and July, when other movements of equipment and track renewal works will be happening at Monsall and Newton Heath and Moston as well.
I decided to take the replacement bus up to Newton Heath and Moston as well to check if there were any workers nearby preparing for the renewals there, as I knew of two more TSRs, one under the Dean Lane bridge at 10mph, and one at the single track entry point between Newton Heath and Moston and Failsworth.
View of lines from Dean Lane, over the Newton Heath TMD.
An entrance was open west of Dean Lane, just south of the tram lines, and there were a few workers present on the line between Central Park and Newton Heath and Moston.
Survey prism target mounted on a tripod standing at Newton Heath and Moston, used for track surveying/monitoring.
I also went down to the platform and saw some track surveying.
Workers on the track at Newton Heath.
I left the platforms at this point to not disturb or interrupt the work that was happening.
That’s all I managed to capture on that day. I walked down Oldham Road for a while going to a few railway bridges between Newton Heath and Failsworth, looking for any workers in high-vis vests, but none were present. There might have been other things happening at other locations on the line that I didn’t travel to.
