Transport for Greater Manchester has been cleared to enter into contracts with the M-Pact Thales consortium and WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff for the delivery and management of the scheme.

The new 5.5km Metrolink Trafford Park line will go from Pomona to Trafford Park via the Imperial War Museum.

Laing O’Rourke and VolkerRail will be responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of the civil engineering and track, while Thales will deliver the tram operating systems.

Preliminary utility diversions by Electricity North West will start next week allowing the joint venture to start work in late January.

The Trafford Park line will call at six new tram stops – Wharfside, Imperial War Museum, Village, Parkway, EventCity and the Trafford Centre.

The line will leave the existing Metrolink network at the Pomona stop on the Eccles line and continue in a westerly direction, initially on an elevated structure, along the south side of the Manchester Ship Canal.

The route then continues on a segregated section on the existing highway network along Trafford Wharf Road, Warren Bruce Road and Village Way before joining Barton Dock Road, again as a segregated tramway, to the Trafford Centre.

The extension will increase the size of the Metrolink network to more than 106.5km (66 miles).