Official Midland Metro Thread

[ReissOmari]

Black and yellow would be nice for the metro

[Qoasis777]

i like the current livery

[ellbrown]

Is odd that some trams are still blue, yellow and red, while other ones are pink and white. Are they the same trams from 1999?

[Qoasis777]

Yes I believe they are the same trams which they started repainting.

Probably haven't bothered with the rest as they are being replaced.

Just to be clear the livery I like is the pink and white/silver ones.

The red blue and yellow ones look turd

[traffordboy]

The pink and silver livery is just vile!!! Make them look like Barbies been in charge of decorating lol!!

[ellbrown]

I found this in a leaflet I picked up at Snow Hill

image hosted on flickr

Midland Metro Birmingham City Centre Extension by ell brown, on Flickr

[SimonTheSoundMan]

[twilight_2008]

My local paper recently had an article regarding the Midland Metro. It said the business plan for the reopening of the South Staffordshire Line between Stourbridge and Walsall via Brierley Hill, Merry Hill, Dudley and Wednesbury was submitted to Network Rail. Trams will share the line with freight trains.

I have spoken to a friend of mine who works at Centro and he says Centro plans to extend the Metro to Brierley Hill but is also looking at extending it to Stourbridge, and Centro will be bidding for funding probably next year.

This is the extension I think needs to happen a lot more than the one to Birmingham New Street.

[Qoasis777]

Originally Posted by twilight_2008

My local paper recently had an article regarding the Midland Metro. It said the business plan for the reopening of the South Staffordshire Line between Stourbridge and Walsall via Brierley Hill, Merry Hill, Dudley and Wednesbury was submitted to Network Rail. Trams will share the line with freight trains.

I have spoken to a friend of mine who works at Centro and he says Centro plans to extend the Metro to Brierley Hill but is also looking at extending it to Stourbridge, and Centro will be bidding for funding probably next year.

This is the extension I think needs to happen a lot more than the one to Birmingham New Street.

that's good news and i think this extension will be next on the agenda. But I disagree about it being more important that the extension to New St. This is the single most important extension albiet small as it allows for other extensions, raises the profile of Metro which in turn will raise usage which in turn will lead to an expanded network.

Its not just about getting a tram from Snow Hill to New St it far far bigger than that in the scheme of things

[ellbrown]

Would be good to get the Metro to Dudley and Brierley Hill. Takes an hour to get the bus from the city centre to Dudley (via Smethwick, Oldbury etc).

I found this old railway line in Dudley (no longer in use). Track bed could be used for the Metro.

image hosted on flickr

Disused railway line in Dudley by ell brown, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Disused railway line in Dudley by ell brown, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Disused railway line in Dudley by ell brown, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Disused railway line in Dudley by ell brown, on Flickr

[twilight_2008]

Originally Posted by ellbrown

Would be good to get the Metro to Dudley and Brierley Hill. Takes an hour to get the bus from the city centre to Dudley (via Smethwick, Oldbury etc).

I found this old railway line in Dudley (no longer in use). Track bed could be used for the Metro.

image hosted on flickr

Disused railway line in Dudley by ell brown, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Disused railway line in Dudley by ell brown, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Disused railway line in Dudley by ell brown, on Flickr

image hosted on flickr

Disused railway line in Dudley by ell brown, on Flickr

Thats the South Staffordshire Line, closed during the Beeching Axe. It'll be used for the Midland Metro.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Staffordshire_Line

[ellbrown]

Originally Posted by twilight_2008

Thats the South Staffordshire Line, closed during the Beeching Axe. It'll be used for the Midland Metro.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Staffordshire_Line

They seemed to have left some broken tracks behind. Would be ideal for the Metro to stop there, as the bus takes an hour to get here from Birmingham. The Metro should be fast, if and when they build this route.

[Typhoon2000]

Originally Posted by ellbrown

They seemed to have left some broken tracks behind. Would be ideal for the Metro to stop there, as the bus takes an hour to get here from Birmingham. The Metro should be fast, if and when they build this route.

They should have done more closures like this ie. 'mothballing' - so that the track can come back to use in the future - there are so many lines that need re-opening that have been turned into bypasses and 'nature walks'

[twilight_2008]

Well luckily, nearly all of the track between Stourbridge and Walsall on the South Staffordshire Line is still in place, just heavily overgrown in many places.

It's sad to see that so many of our old lines have been taken up and turned into other things, but atleast this line can be put to good use again, and it will be majorly beneficial for the region when its re-opened.

[ellbrown]

I would assume they would have to install new Metro tracks, rather than use the existing old ones. Plus there is the overhead cabling.


This week the sectionbetween Soho Benson Road to Snow Hill is closed.

BBC travel news - Midland Metro

Midland Metro - Jewellery Quarter to Birmingham Snow Hill - no service

Midland Metro - Service suspended between Soho Benson Road and Birmingham Snow Hill due to essential repair work at Jewellery Quarter. Tickets being accepted on London Midland and National Express West Midlands bus route 74 and 79 services.

[Spread]

News from Business Desk:
http://www.thebusinessdesk.com/westm...-_Daily_E-mail

A SHORTLIST of five companies has been put forward to build a new fleet of vehicles for the Midland Metro tram service.

The five companies are Alstom, Bombardier, CAF, Siemens and Stadler, with the quintet now invited by regional transport authority Centro to bid for a supply contract worth up to £50m.

The procurement process is expected to last around 12 months and the new trams will be brought into service from late 2014 in time for the opening of Midland Metro's line extension from Snow Hill to New Street station, in Birmingham, due to come on line in 2015.

Centro estimates the extension will create 1,300 new jobs and boost the West Midlands economy by £50m a year as the new trams increase passenger capacity between Birmingham and the Black Country.

Nineteen vehicles will be ordered to replace the current 16-strong fleet to deal with the expected growth in use once the 1.3km extension opens.

The trams will be approximately 30% bigger, allow more frequent services to be operated and increase passenger capacity of the system.

Chairman Angus Adams said: "This is an exciting development in the story of the Midland Metro.

"All of the candidates are leaders in their field and users of the Midland Metro can be assured that whoever is chosen will be delivering vehicles of the highest quality."

[ellbrown]

So not an Italian company this time.

[Typhoon2000]

Originally Posted by ellbrown

So not an Italian company this time.

Thank christ, no.

Mothballing the line usually means keeping the trackbed ready for re-use rather than the track itself. It just makes it easier to re-install the permenant way for whatever use railtype use they want to use it for.

Siemens, Bombardier or Alstom. My preferential order. Siemens make the ultra reliable Desiro, as used by LondonMidland for the London-Euston line.

[SuttonBluenose]

dont bombardier make beer?

[Pebble.Mill]

Originally Posted by SuttonBluenose

dont bombardier make beer?

They also make the Learjet, I think they're different companies...