Urbos 3 tram in West Midlands Metro livery at Edgbaston Village tram stop
Overview
Owner
Transport for West Midlands
Area served
Birmingham, Sandwell, Wolverhampton
Locale
West Midlands county
Transit type
Tram/Light rail
Number of lines
1
Number of stations
33
Annual ridership
5.4 million (2022/23)[1] 14.9%
Headquarters
Potters Lane, Wednesbury
Website
www.westmidlandsmetro.com
Operation
Began operation
30 May 1999
Operator(s)
Midland Metro Limited
Number of vehicles
29 Urbos 3
Technical
System length
14 miles (23 km)[2]
Track gauge
1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification
Overhead line (750 V DC)
Top speed
70 km/h (43 mph)
West Midlands Metro network overview
Wolverhampton
(for Wolverhampton Bus Station)
Pipers Row
Wolverhampton
St George's
The Royal
Priestfield
Zones 3 & 4 boundary
The Crescent
Bilston Central
Loxdale
Bradley Lane
Wolverhampton
Sandwell
boundary
Wednesbury Parkway
Wednesbury Depot
Wednesbury Great
Western Street
(under construction)
Great Bridge
Black Lake
Zones 2 & 3 boundary
Horseley Road
Dudley Street Guns Village
Dudley Port
Dartmouth Street
Sedgley Road
Lodge Road
West Bromwich Town Hall
Birmingham New Road
West Bromwich Central
boundary
Sandwell
Dudley
Trinity Way
Tipton Road
Kenrick Park
Dudley Castle
The Hawthorns
Dudley Town Centre
(Dudley Bus Station)
Sandwell
Birmingham
boundary
Flood Street
Handsworth Booth Street
Cinder Bank
Winson Green Outer Circle
Pedmore Road
Soho Benson Road
Waterfront
Jewellery Quarter
Zones 1 & 2 boundary
Merry Hill
St Paul's
Brierley Hill
St Chads
Birmingham Snow Hill
Bull Street
(under construction)
Corporation Street
Albert Street
(for Birmingham Moor Street)
Grand Central
(Birmingham New Street)
Moor Street Queensway
Town Hall
Birmingham Curzon Street
Library
Meriden Street
Brindleyplace
Digbeth
(Birmingham Coach Station)
Five Ways
Edgbaston Village
The West Midlands Metro is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. The network has 33 stops with a total of 14 miles (23 km) of track; it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via the towns of Bilston, West Bromwich and Wednesbury, on a mixture of former railway lines and urban on-street running. The system is owned by the public body Transport for West Midlands, and operated by Midland Metro Limited, a company wholly owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority.[3][4]
The tram system was launched on 30 May 1999 as Midland Metro, partly using the disused Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Low Level Line. The line originally terminated at Birmingham Snow Hill station at the edge of the city centre, but following an extension opened in December 2015 it now serves the central core of Birmingham, including the principal regional mainline station, Birmingham New Street. Following further extensions the line now terminates at Edgbaston Village since 2022. At the other end of the line, an extension to Wolverhampton station was opened on 17 September 2023.[5][6]
Construction of a new branch line from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill was approved in March 2019, started in February 2020 and was intended to be completed for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, but has been severely delayed; it is currently scheduled to be completed at least to Dudley by 2025.[7] An additional branch line running to Birmingham's Eastside via Curzon Street – the region's planned High Speed 2 terminus – and terminating at Digbeth is also under construction as of 2024.[8][9] There are also proposals to expand this branch further towards Chelmsley Wood (Solihull) and out to Birmingham Airport.[10]
^"Light rail and tram statistics, England: year ending March 2023". GOV.UK. Department for Transport. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
^"Route kilometres open for passenger traffic on light rail and trams and undergrounds by system: Great Britain - annual from 1995/96". UK Government Department for Transport. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
^"TfWM to take direct control of Midland Metro services". Transport for West Midlands. 22 March 2017.
^"Transport for West Midlands Annual Plan 2018-19" (PDF). West Midlands Combined Authority. 15 April 2018.
^Smith, Adam (28 October 2022). "'Catastrophe for Wolverhampton' as Metro extension is delayed again until spring 2023". Express and Star. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
^Ltd, DVV Media International. "Midland Metro Alliance to manage tramway expansion projects".
^Cite error: The named reference indoubt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"'Significant step forward' for Birmingham Metro tram extension". BBC News. 26 November 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
^Young, Graham (14 January 2023). "Eastside Metro trams to take four more years to reach Digbeth via HS2". BirminghamLive. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
^"£450m funding green light for Midland Metro extension". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
and 26 Related for: West Midlands Metro information
priorities upon its establishment in 2016 were the expansion of the WestMidlandsMetro through East Birmingham, Brierley Hill and Birmingham Airport, improvements...
The 2021 WestMidlands Mayoral Election was held on 6 May 2021 to elect the mayor of the WestMidlands, on the same day as other local elections across...
The WestMidlandsMetro is a passenger light rail line in the WestMidlands conurbation in England, which opened in 1999. Its rolling stock consists of...
The WestMidlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is a combined authority for the WestMidlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom. It was established...
WestMidlands Trains (WMT) is a British train operating company. It operates passenger trains on the WestMidlands franchise between London and the English...
The inaugural WestMidlands mayoral election was held on 4 May 2017 to elect the Mayor of the WestMidlands, with subsequent elections to be held every...
government and the WestMidlands Combined Authority (WMCA). The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 required a directly elected "metro mayor" for...
Wednesbury (/ˈwɛnzbəri/) is a market town in Sandwell in the WestMidlands County, England - historically in Staffordshire. It is located near the source...
Changsha Metro Changzhou Metro Dalian Metro Foshan Metro Fuzhou Metro Guiyang Metro Hangzhou Metro Harbin Metro Hefei Metro Hohhot Metro Jinan Metro Kunming...
This is a list of railway stations within the WestMidlands, a metropolitan county in central England which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry...
WestMidlands Bus route 11, also known as the Birmingham Outer Circle, is a 27-mile (43 km) route that circumnavigates Birmingham via the A4040 apart...
Solihull Metro Extension – Midland Metro Alliance". Archived from the original on 29 November 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2020. "Network WestMidlands". Route...
Edgbaston (/ˈɛdʒbəstən/) is a suburb of Birmingham, WestMidlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically...
Wolverhampton (/ˌwʊlvərˈhæmptən/ ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the WestMidlands, England. Located 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Birmingham, the population...
WestMidlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of WestMidlands in England. The force covers an...
bracket had detached from the body of unit 195121. On June 11, 2021, WestMidlandsMetro (operating between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, England) were forced...
stand. The bus station is located between Wolverhampton, St George's WestMidlandsMetro tram terminus and Wolverhampton railway station on the site of the...
WestMidlandsMetro trams on the line from Wolverhampton. This tram terminus closed in October 2015, in order for the extension of the WestMidlands Metro...
administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the WestMidlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Forest of...
Tipton, WestMidlands, England. Situated on both the Stour Valley Line and Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line, the station is operated by WestMidlands Railway...
Global Information
14.9%
