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.
- Piper’s Row stop is by the bus station.
- Wolverhampton Station stop is by Wolverhampton station.
- Wolverhampton station has orange detailing.
- Trams lower their pantographs at Piper’s Row, when going towards the station and raise them on their return.
- Pictures 11-14 show the pantograph being lowered.
- Batteries are used between the two new stops.
- 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.
The Anonymous Widower 
We’re lucky that West Midlands Metro has managed to make it through to the system it is these days, indeed I’d say it’s close to miraculous that we have the tram systems we have today. The birth of the new West Midlands tram system was tortuous relying on a complex round of funding involving the European Union, the West Midlands Transport Authority (WMTA) and the Altram Consortium made up of the civil construction company, the then local bus operator, as well as the tram builder.
Around the year 2000 I went to a meeting with West Midlands Metro along with a number of other suppliers where we were asked to support the operator. We were told that they had not been funded beyond the Ministry of Transport capital budget, which administered through WMTA paid for the purchase of the original Ansoldo Breda trams. As a consequence they didn’t have sufficient money for the fleet’s maintenance. Private industry to the rescue again?
Comment by fammorris | September 22, 2023 |
fammoris, you ask: “Private industry to the rescue again?”
Brexit means:
No money from the European Union for West Midlands Metro anymore.
It’s as easy as that.
Comment by Wolfgang Maresch | September 22, 2023 |
As much as I favoured remaining in the EU, you overlook the fact that the UK was a net contributor to the Union’s Budget. It’s not “as simple as that”.
Comment by fammorris | September 22, 2023 |
You write: UK was a net contributor to the EU budget (which is past tense).
I wrote: No money from the EU anymore (which is present tense).
Maybe you do not understand the meaning of the word ‘anymore’.
Comment by Wolfgang Maresch | September 23, 2023