In the wake of Friday’s international cyber attack, it was logical to assume that yesterday’s complete shutdown of the Manchester tram system was another casualty of malicious ransomware.
But bosses at Metrolink say the closure was due to a technical fault in the control network and has now been resolved. For a city that has come to rely on its trams, any glitch is incredibly disruptive, not least because the bus network – to the north of Manchester at least – is a shambles.
However, when the Met is working, it’s a convenient and efficient means of getting around, if a little pricey. And the multi-billion pound extension of what was once a straightforward replacement for outdated trains and tracks has had a beneficial impact on house prices.
According to new research by Lloyds Bank, the average house price along the Greater Manchester tram routes increased by an average of 11 per cent (from £134,266 in 2013 to £149,511 in 2015) in the two years after many of the routes opened – almost double the 6 per cent increase recorded in the two years previously.
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