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M5000 (Bombardier Flexity Swift)
Bombardier's high-floor Flexity Swift trams for Manchester, built in Vienna from 2009 to 2022: 147 articulated trams of three sections, each 93 ft 2 in (28.4 m) long with four double doors a side, which run singly or in coupled pairs. They replaced the T68s by 2014 and are now the whole Metrolink fleet.
Shown
Scale
93 ft (28.4 m) long
M5000 (Bombardier Flexity Swift) · schematic drawing GB Trains · gbtrains.uk/stock/m5000/ · CC BY 4.0
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Liveries 1
Manchester MetrolinkMetrolinkYellow cab modules, silver sides, a black window band, graded yellow dots behind each cab, yellow door edges; from photographs of 3083 (2020), 3116 (2023) and 3002 (2026)Shown aboveFormer liveries 1
Pride 'Love Connects Everyone' on 3002Rainbow vinyls in the Pride flag's colours with hearts on the cab ends and sides: the first time 3002 left fleet livery. Metrolink's Pride wraps ran on 3023 (2023), 3024 (2024) and 3076 (from June 2026).FormerJune 2025 to 1 September 2025Not drawn yet
- Type
- Tram, three sections, high floor
- Builder
- Bombardier Transportation (Alstom from 2021), Vienna (Austria), with electrical equipment from Vossloh Kiepe (Kiepe Electric)
- Built
- 2009–2022
- In service
- since 2009
- Lines
- Manchester Metrolink
- Formation
- One articulated tram of three sections, 93 ft 2 in (28.4 m) over the body: two long sections and a short centre section, the articulation portal, on three bogies: a powered bogie under each cab end and an unpowered bogie under the portal; runs singly or as a coupled pair
- Trains in fleet
- 147
- Top speed
- 50 mph (80 km/h)
- Power
- 750 V DC overhead; four 120 kW three-phase motors, two on each outer bogie · how it works
- Bogies
- Bombardier's powered bogies under the M5000's cab ends, behind the skirts but for the bottoms of the wheels and the magnetic track brake; the M5000's unpowered centre bogie, under the articulation portal
- Train length
- 93 ft (28.40 m)
- Coupled
- 2 × 3 sections, 189 ft (57.7 m) (over the outer ends)
- Car height
- 12 ft 0 in (3.67 m)
- Car width
- 8 ft 8 in (2.65 m)
- Profile
- tram
- Seats per train
- 60
- Total capacity
- 60 seats including tip-ups and 146 standing at 4 a square metre (Bombardier, 2012); 3001-3074 were built with 52 seats and 8 perch seats (LRTA)
- Status
- In service: 147 trams, 3001-3147 (TfGM, 2025). The last, 3147, was delivered on 24 September 2022. TfGM intends to specify and procure, subject to approvals and funding, a fleet of Next Generation Vehicles for Metrolink, in tram and tram-train versions, to add capacity alongside the M5000s (Bee Network Committee, August and November 2025).
Before this train
The M5000s replaced the T68 and T68A trams Metrolink opened with: TfGM brought the replacement forward in September 2011 and ordered the last 20 M5000s for it in July 2012, and all 32 of the older trams were withdrawn by 2014.
Now M5000 (Bombardier Flexity Swift) since 2009 · 93 ft (28.4 m) · 3 sections · 60 seats
Before T68 and T68A (Firema and AnsaldoBreda) 1992–2014
No drawing yet: no dimensioned source found
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Section A (its cab door on the side drawn) | 45 ft 3 in13.80 m | 2 double |
| C | Short centre section: the articulation portal, over the centre bogie | 2 ft 7 in0.80 m | |
| B | Section B, with the pantograph (no cab door on the side drawn) | 45 ft 3 in13.80 m | 2 double |
Sources
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Show the 20 sources from Wikimedia Commons, British Trams Online, Bombardier Transportation, Vienna; released by Transport for Greater Manchester under the Freedom of Information Act and 6 more
- FLEXITY Swift: Light rail vehicles, Manchester, United Kingdom (data sheet 11171/LRV/10-2012/en) Bombardier Transportation, Vienna; released by Transport for Greater Manchester under the Freedom of Information Act (request 2018/0086), October 2012 (data sheet); released 18 July 2018first order April 2007; 93 ft 2 in (28.4 m) long, 8 ft 8 in (2.65 m) wide, 12 ft 0 in (3.67 m) high; 750 V DC; 120 kW three-phase motors, two powered bogies and a trailer bogie; automatic coupler; 80 km/h (50 mph); 60 seats, 146 standing
- Bombardier M5000, New Vehicles for Metrolink (Manchester Metrolink archive) Light Rail Transit Association, updated 11 April 2019floor 3 ft 3 in (980 mm); wheels 2 ft 2 in (660 mm) new; two 120 kW motors on each outer bogie, the centre bogie unpowered; built and tested in Vienna; first delivered 13 July 2009, in service 16 December 2009; seats by batch; the 2018 order from Bombardier and Kiepe Electric
- Order completed! Final M5000 delivered for Manchester Metrolink British Trams Online, 28 September 2022the last of 147, 3147, delivered 24 September 2022 from Alstom's Vienna plant
- Metrolink Operations and Maintenance: preliminary market engagement notice 2025/S 000-021885 Transport for Greater Manchester (Find a Tender service), 15 May 2025a fleet of 147 trams (March 2025)
- Bombardier M5000 Wikipedia, accessed 11 October 2026Bautzen works, Vossloh Kiepe (cross-check only)
- FLEXITY Swift: Light rail vehicles, Manchester, United Kingdom (data sheet 11171/LRV/10-2012/en) Bombardier Transportation, Vienna; released by Transport for Greater Manchester under the Freedom of Information Act (request 2018/0086), October 2012 (data sheet); released 18 July 2018, p. 2side elevation (measured): sections, bellows, portal, doors, windows, cab front, bogies, wheels, track brakes, pantograph
- 'Manchester '3116' Deansgate 2311.jpg' (photograph: 3116 near side-on at Deansgate; CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Industrial Wales), 1 November 2023livery placing, the articulation's silver bellows and portal, the pantograph's section and which way it folds (layout and colour only)
- 'Wharfside Metrolink Station, April 2020 (02).jpg' (photograph: 3083 side-on at Wharfside; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Ardfern), 8 April 2020colours, dot fields, the grille, what shows under the skirt (layout and colour only)
- 'M5000s coupled together.jpg' (photograph: two M5000s' coupled fronts; CC BY-SA 3.0) Wikimedia Commons (Jza84), 23 May 2013the front covers and the coupler behind them
- 'Ashton West tram stop 2026.jpg' (photograph: 3002 and another coupled at Ashton West; CC0) Wikimedia Commons (UK bus Image), 30 July 2026the livery unchanged in 2026
- 'Manchester '3137' Rochdale 2311 02.jpg' (photograph: 3137 three-quarter from the side without the cab door; CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Industrial Wales), 1 November 2023the cab side's black and the side window on the side without the cab door (layout only); with 3083 (2020) and 3116 (2023) for the cab-door side
- Transport Infrastructure Pipeline (report to the Bee Network Committee, 27 November 2025) Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester, 27 November 2025, p. para 2.1TfGM's intention to specify and procure, subject to approvals and funding, a fleet of Next Generation Vehicles for Metrolink with tram and tram-train variants, for more capacity (the August 2025 report)
- Mayor confirms Metrolink upgrades are on the way Rail Technology Magazine, 30 October 2025147 M5000s; the next generation of trams to run alongside the current fleet
- 'Manchester '3116' Deansgate 2311.jpg' (photograph: 3116 near side-on at Deansgate; CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Industrial Wales), 1 November 2023set T6, 20 October 2026: door 1 rectified on its doorway (5 ft 5 in × 7 ft 1 in (1,663 x 2,170 mm)): the leaves' glass and yellow lines; the dot field's 18 columns and 170 mm rows; the pantograph on section B (layout and figures as measured)
- 'Wharfside Metrolink Station, April 2020 (02).jpg' (photograph: 3083 side-on at Wharfside; CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Ardfern), 8 April 2020set T6, 20 October 2026: door 1 rectified the same way: the leaves' glass, the yellow lines, the dot field's 18 columns; the pantograph's arm over section B
- 'Manchester '3137' Rochdale 2311 02.jpg' (photograph: 3137 three-quarter from the side without the cab door; CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Industrial Wales), 1 November 2023set T6, 20 October 2026: the pantograph on section B, whose cab door is on the other side
- In Pictures: 3002 gets 2025 pride vinyls in Manchester with other livery changes too British Trams Online, 10 June 2025the new 2025 Pride design on 3002, its vinyls and hearts
- In Pictures: Full fleet livery again for three on Metrolink British Trams Online, 6 September 2025applied in June 2025, removed and back in fleet livery on 1 September 2025, the first time 3002 left fleet livery
- In Pictures: New wraps for two trams in Manchester British Trams Online, 3 June 2026the Pride wraps before and after: 3023, 3024, 3002 and 3076 (2026)
- The Highway Code: road works, level crossings and tramways (rules 288 to 307), rule 307 Department for Transport (GOV.UK), accessed 10 October 2026, p. rule 307the contact wire in the In operation drawing: 19 ft 0 in (5.8 m) above rail, the normal height of tramway wires over a carriageway
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unverified
- Where the bodies were built: Bombardier's Bautzen works (Wikipedia); the LRTA and British Trams Online say only that they were built and tested in, and shipped from, Vienna
- Seats: Bombardier's 60 including tip-ups (2012) and the LRTA's 60 and 6 perch seats from 3075 on; the first 74 were built with 52 and 8 perch seats, and no source says whether they were altered
- How many services run as doubles: TfGM's departure boards show 'Double tram' services and photographs show coupled pairs (2013, 2018, 2026), but no count was found
- The data sheet's 'Dimensions and weight' table (105 ft / 142 ft (32/43.4 m), 7 ft 7 in (2.3 m), a 1 ft 2 in (350 mm) 100% low floor) is another tram's and disagrees with its own drawing; its other tables are Manchester's and agree with the LRTA
- The livery's dot fields: 18 columns about 197 mm apart (counted on 3083 and 3116) and rows about 170 mm apart (+/-15 mm), the dots about 160 mm at the cab and 40 mm at the doors (+/-20 mm), read off photographs rectified on a doorway, not a livery sheet
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