Midland Metro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Midland Metro is a light-rail tram system in the West Midlands of England. It runs between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via West Bromwich and Wednesbury.
The system is owned and promoted by the public transport body Centro, but is operated by Travel Midland Metro.
Midland Metro carries about five million passengers annually, fewer than expected.
Contents |
[edit] Routes
| Midland Metro Line 1 |
| Tram stops south-north (* connection with National Rail) Birmingham Snow Hill* (terminus) |
Line One, the 20.2-km (12.5-mile) Birmingham to Wolverhampton route, was opened in 1999, and runs mostly along the trackbed of the former Great Western Railway line between the two cities, which closed to passenger trains in 1972; although part of the line remained open to goods trains for about 20 years afterwards.
At the southern end, the present terminus is Birmingham Snow Hill station in Birmingham city centre. At the northern end, trams move off the former railway formation to run along streets to a terminus at St Georges in Wolverhampton city centre.
The Wednesbury Great Western Street tram stop occupies roughly the same site as the former Great Western Railway station, closed in 1964.
Places served by Line 1 are listed below.
- Birmingham Snow Hill
- St Paul's
- Jewellery Quarter
- Soho
- Winson Green
- Handsworth
- The Hawthorns
- Kenrick Park
- West Bromwich
- Wednesbury
- The main depot is located here
- Loxdale
- Bilston
- Priestfield
- Wolverhampton St Georges
[edit] Vehicles and services
The Metro operates a fleet of 16 Type T-69 articulated two-car trams, which were built by Ansaldo in Italy. Vehicles are numbered 01-16 and have a top speed of 70 km/h (43.5 mph). Each tram has 56 seats and can carry 208 passengers, and also has wheelchair access. T-69s have three entrances on each side. They entered service in 1999. All the vehicles have an integral master controller with a bar at the top that drivers must hold straight to mobilise the vehicle: if drivers cease to do so whilst the tram is in motion, the power is cut and the track brakes apply.
Throughout most of the day services run at eight-minute intervals, although less frequently at weekends.
According to British Trams Online the T-69s are to be replaced with a fleet of 40 new vehicles from an as yet unknown supplier. The T-69s have had reliability problems since introduction and with each vehicle being different to all others maintenance is very difficult.
[edit] Future extensions
Although fewer people use the trams than expected, expansion to the system is planned, including in the near future an on-street extension through Birmingham city centre running close to Birmingham New Street Station (if the station is to be developed) then to Five Ways (via Broad Street) and Edgbaston (one of the criticisms of the current system is that it does not serve directly the shopping area of Birmingham), and a branch from Wednesbury to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre at Brierley Hill. An order authorising the city centre extension was made in July 2005. [1]
There had been talk of running the tram line through Birmingham city centre in tunnels, rather than through the streets. However the council axed this option in October 2005.[2] The tram line will run along the street and at certain points such as Suffolk Queensway, will go over the road on a bridge.
The developers of Arena Central paid £5 million towards the proposed construction of the tram line along Broad Street.
Further into the future, Phase Two extensions are proposed to link Birmingham city centre to Birmingham International Airport. Another line is planned to connect Wolverhampton to Dudley, Wednesfield, Willenhall (connecting with Line One), and Walsall.
Preliminary work on the section of the Midland Metro between Wednesbury and Brierley Hill (via Dudley) is set to begin in 2007 and then increase speed in 2008. This will make use of the closed section of the South Staffordshire Line which closed in 1993. The line heading eastwards from Birmingham, which uses an entirely new trackbed, will probably be completed a while afterwards. The first trams are expected to begin running in either 2010 or 2011.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Travel Midland Metro - Homepage
- Centro Midland Metro pages - includes details of future extensions
- Light Rail Transit Association - useful information
- topic:transport - Critical website
- More information and pictures at thetrams.co.uk
- Collection of Google Earth locations of Midland Metro stations (Requires Google Earth software) from the Google Earth Community forum.
| Local rail transport in the United Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| Metros : | Docklands Light Railway (East London) | Glasgow Subway | London Underground | Tyne and Wear Metro |
| Tramways : | Blackpool | Manchester | Midland Metro (West Midlands) | Nottingham | Sheffield | Tramlink (South London) |
