26.04.16
Trams set to run on Midland Metro extension after safety checks
Birmingham’s Midland Metro tram extension from Birmingham New Street to the city centre is due to run from next week after successfully passing electrical safety checks.
The results of the checks are now being reviewed by Midland Metro operators Centro and Network Rail and, subject to any last-minute safety concerns, mean that driver training will begin and full passenger service on the extension between Snow Hill station and New Street station via Bull Street and Corporation Street will open on 22 May.
The tests were carried out on Sunday morning to ensure that the Metro’s electronic systems do not interfere with Network Rail’s or those controlling trains using New Street station and was followed by a series of test runs by a tram between Bull Street and Stephenson Street, starting off at walking pace then gradually getting faster until it was running at normal operational speed.
Phil Hewitt, Centro’s Midland Metro programme director, said: “This was the last big hurdle to overcome. Now that we have completed these crucial trials we are in the final preparations to start services down to New Street and Grand Central, with all the benefits that will bring to Birmingham city centre and the wider West Midlands economy."
The £128m Midland Metro project started running at the end of last year and is hoped to bring more than £50m a year and 1,300 new jobs to the West Midlands economy.
It features a fleet of 21 Urbos 3 trams, which will be retrofitted to become the first battery-operated trams in the UK.
Other extensions are also planned from New Street Station to Centenary Square, through Wolverhampton city centre to the bus and railway stations, along Broad Street to Edgbaston and through Digbeth to the new HS2 station at Curzon Street.