The Secretary of State for Transport gave approval for Line 1 of the Midland Metro light rail scheme to go ahead on 13 December 1995. Line 1 runs between Wolverhampton and Birmingham. It will be easily accessible to almost 100,000 people living close to the 20.4km route.
Line One will offer a six minute frequency (every 10 minutes until Autumn 1999) throughout the day from stops positioned 500 to 700 metres apart, and will have the capacity to carry 50,000 passengers daily. Taking 35 minutes to complete the journey it is very competitive with car and bus travel along the corridor, running parallel to the main road between Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
The total capital cost was £145 million, £11 million of this will come from Altram, who have won the contract to build and run the line for 20 years, £17 million will come from Centro, the local PTE, £31 million from the European Union and £80 million from the Government. The local councils involved have also contributed.
Tracklaying began in October 1996. The contract for went to GrantRail. An Italian-built Ameca tracklaying machine, hired from Sweden, was used.
16 trams operate on the route, built by Ansaldo Transport of Italy, with production starting in early 1997. The trams cover 13 daily diagrams with three for maintenance cover. The first was delivered in December 1998 and production ran behind schedule. The trams carry a purple, red and grey livery instead of the originally planned green, yellow and blue colours of Centro as used on their rail vehicles. They are based at the Metro Centre at Wednesbury Parkway, which is also the signalling control centre.
Travel Midland Metro, part of National Express and a subsidiary of Travel West Midlands, the area's largest bus operator, has been awarded the 20-year contract to operate the tram service on Line One. TMM owns a third of Altram, the consortium who have awarded the contract to build light rail network. Centro rail and bus passes will also be valid on tram network as well as add-on rail tickets from Central Trains and Chiltern Railways.
Construction works have been severely hampered by repeated theft of overhead wires, which is made of valuable copper. Power has been switched on in the completed parts to stop vandals, along with extensive local press coverage. Ansaldo has been behind in delivering the trams, which delayed test running. During test running, which started towards the end of 1998, various problems have been found with the trams, including water getting into the electrical systems. This is also a problem for Manchester Metrolink, who have ordered similar units for their Eccles extension.
Six weeks' trouble free test running is required before commissioning, and due to the various problems that have occurred, it seems unlikely the system will be operating before April 1999. Altram have been paying penalties for delays to the system since June 1998. However, as construction was carried out under a fixed price contract neither Centro or the other sponsors have faced any financial losses.
The first of these extensions will bring Metro onto the streets of Central Birmingham, rather than Snow Hill where it currently terminates. A consultation was held in February 1998, after which it was decided to bring Metro down Corporation Street, in the centre of the city, rather than along Queensway, the central ring road. The main problem with this approach is that it is impossible to have two tracks at the corner of Stephenson Place, near the New Street station stop, so both tracks will in fact overlap as they go round the corner and an interlocking system will be developed so only one tram traverses this section at a time. The other option is more expensive and won't bring passengers as much into the centre of the city. This extension may be part funded by the developers of the massive new BullRing and Martineau Galleries shopping centres which lie between the two proposed routes.
Trials of the Parry People Mover, a flywheel powered light rail car, were undertaken on the Stourbridge Town to Stourbridge Junction branch line in Spring 1999. This will not operate as yet as a part of the Metro network, rather as a feeder to the heavy rail line at Stourbridge Junction. It is hoped the Parry People Mover could eventually function as a low traffic feeder or a first step in developing light rail across more of the conurbation.
