The Anonymous Widower

Two New Stops On The West Midlands Metro

I went to Wolverhampton to see the two stop extension of the West Midlands Metro.

T took these pictures of the two stops and the frontage of Wolverhampton station.

Note.

  1. Piper’s Row stop is by the bus station.
  2. Wolverhampton Station stop is by Wolverhampton station.
  3. Wolverhampton station has orange detailing.
  4. Trams lower their pantographs at Piper’s Row, when going towards the station and raise them on their return.
  5. Pictures 11-14 show the pantograph being lowered.
  6. Batteries are used between the two new stops.
  7. Passengers enter and leave the tram at Wolverhampton station in its siding.

I have a few thoughts.

Battery Extensions

The West Midlands Metro now has battery-powered extensions at both ends of the line.

The Birmingham extension goes through the City Centre to Edgbaston Village.

  • The Wolverhampton extension goes to the station.
  • The extensions don’t have any catenary.
  • Batteries are charged on the long central section.

How many other tramways in the world could follow the example of the West Midlands Metro to extend their networks?

Simple Ticketing

The West Midlands Metro charges five pounds for an all-day, all-zone ticket, which is bought from the conductor.

As I did, it enables you to get on and off as many times as you need.

Site-Seeing

The windows and the seating arrangement is not good for taking pictures.

Good Connections

The West Midlands Metro has good connections to buses and trains.

Conclusion

These two extra stops make the West Midlands Metro, one of most useful tram lines I’ve ridden.

 

 

 

September 21, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 4 Comments

High Speed Two Crosses The West Coast Main Line To The East of Berkswell Station

This map from OpenRailwayMap shows where High Speed Two crosses the West Coast Main Line to the East of Berkswell station.

Note.

  1. The double orange tracks are the West Coast Main Line.
  2. Berkswell station is in the North-West corner of the map.
  3. The dotted red line is the future track of High Speed Two.

I took these pictures today, as my train returned from Birmingham New Street station.

Trains at this point going towards Tile Hill, will be a good point to observe the construction of High Speed Two. Sit in a window seat on the left hand side of the train.

 

 

September 21, 2023 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | Leave a comment

Airbus Invests In British Start-Up ZeroAvia, Focused On Hydrogen Propulsion

The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Air Data News.

This is the sub-heading.

Financing round included other companies such as Barclays bank. Airbus will collaborate on certification approaches for hydrogen power systems

These are the first two paragraphs.

United Kingdom start-up ZeroAvia has been backed by a major aircraft manufacturer, Airbus. The European group participated in the company’s latest round of financing, which is developing hydrogen propulsion technologies.

The round also included the participation of the companies Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and NEOM. ZeroAvia was already supported by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Alaska Airlines, Ecosystem Integrity Fund, Summa Equity, AP Ventures and Amazon Climate Pledge Fund.

These are some serious friends.

September 21, 2023 Posted by | Finance, Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 2 Comments