St Peter's Square tram stop

Plans for a rapid transit station in St Peter's Square were made in the 1970s; proposals for the abandoned Picc-Vic tunnel envisaged the construction of an underground station to serve both St Peter's and the neighbouring Albert Square.[2] The early proposals for an on-street light rail system in Manchester revived the idea of a station in the square. St. Peter's Square was one of the original city-centre stops to open when Metrolink started operations in 1992, when it consisted of two side [3]platforms and basic shelters. In common with most newly built Metrolink stops at the time, St. Peter's Square had two-level platforms, meaning only a short section of the platforms offered level boarding.

The stop was demolished and rebuilt with a full length platform and improved passenger facilities in November 2009. When a building called Elisabeth House, which had stood between Dickinson Street and Oxford Street since the 1970s, was demolished for redevelopment in 2011 as One St Peter's Square,[4] architects' plans were entered in a competition, which was modified in 2011 to incorporate proposals to improve the Metrolink station. In March 2012 a shortlist of two submissions was made.[5]

The stop closed after end of service on 25 June 2015 for 14 months to allow for a total redevelopment to incorporate trams on the new Second City Crossing.[6] The tram stop re-opened on 28 August 2016 as a four-platform interchange, comprising two island platforms, one for inbound services and the other for outbound. This offers same-direction cross-platform interchange. The stop was moved slightly north towards Princess Street from that of its old location, which was in front of Manchester Central Library. A number of trees were planted within the structure of the platforms to improve the look and feel of the space.[7] The Manchester Cenotaph was also relocated and the entire square has been redeveloped into a new public space. During the redevelopment works, a reduced service ran through the square on a single track[8] from Nicholas Street to Windmill Street[9] - but there were two 2-month long closures at the beginning and end of the project.[10] During these full closures, no Metrolink services ran through the square. The rebuilding work uncovered the remnants of an 18th century church crypt.[11]

• An artist's impression of light rail in St Peter's Square (1987)
• T-68 Tram at the old St Peter's Square tram stop in 1992.
• The rebuilt four platform stop, 2018

Services run every 12 minutes on each route.

• Tram times and station information for St Peter's Square Metrolink station from Manchester Metrolink
• St Peter's Square area map