The hidden team with a watching brief on all of us Sality and Security

Control room keeps transport the move

- JAMES HOLT

WAITING for a tram, crossing a road or catching a bus around Greater Manchester is something millions of people do across the region every day.

It is part of everyday life for many, as they use the thousands of roads and complex transport networks to get from A to B. But there is a little-known team of people who, for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, watch over the mammoth operation.

The Manchester Evening News was invited inside the huge new control room at Transport for Greater Manchester's headquarters. A hive of activity; hundreds of staff keep a close eye on the region's transport network and make sure everything 'runs like clockwork.

It's no small feat. A variety of teams, including police, the Travel Safe Partnership, network intelligence, a resilience team and a drone unit among others, operate from the control room.

There are over 40 screens, with live, real-time feeds from around 4,000 stationary cameras covering movement on major roads, tram stations, bus stops and busy areas in Manchester city centre and beyond.

All new buses are also fitted with hundreds of HD cameras, with trams also fitted out with the surveillance equipment.

But the job is more than just keeping an eye on the seamless movement of millions of people and keeping them safe. Specialist equipment allows staff to use mobile phone data to track who is travelling and where from, utilise AI systems and flying drones to improve roads, and collate intricate data to prepare for the future and manage huge influxes of people heading into the city region.

In short there is always somebody watching. An omnipresent team of people working around the clock.

As Control Centre Manager Luke Rodger said: "We are a team of hidden angels that nobody knows is there...

smoke is coming off our fingers trying to keep our city moving" Intelligence teams track crime incidents across the network to identify trends and how best to target them.