£1BN TRANSPORT CASH FOR WEST MIDLANDS
West Midland projects receiving the new funding will include:
Metro schemes including completion of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension
The 11km extension will branch off the current West Midlands Metro line just east of the Wednesbury Great Western Street Metro stop, before heading through Tipton and Dudley on its way to Brierley Hill. There are plans for up to 16 Metro stops, with provision for two additional stops.
Construction of this extension is already underway, but further funding is needed to complete the project.
Completion of Sprint Phase 2 bus rapid transit across Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country
Sprint buses are large double-decker buses designed to provide an experience more like travelling on a tram than on a traditional bus.
Phase 2 of the West Midlands sprint project involves creating services between Walsall, Solihull, Birmingham city centre and Birmingham Airport. This links the Alexander Stadium, where the 2022 Commonwealth Games are taking place, and the NEC, and is sometimes called the A34/A45 Sprint route. This money will be used to create dedicated bus lanes for the vehicles, allowing them to avoid congestion on the roads as well as ensuring they don’t add to congestion for other vehicles.
New Transit Stations for ultrarapid electric vehicle charging
These are facilities with a number of high-speed charging points for electric vehicles. They could be compared to a petrol station used by vehicles with traditional engines.
They will be created close to key junctions or key roads.
They come in addition to up to 1,000 individual charging points which the West Midlands Combined
Authority hopes to create, which will be funded separately.
Making it easier for motorists to charge electric vehicles is seen as essential in order to encourage people to buy low or zero-pollution cars, cutting air pollution and supporting efforts to reduce climate change.
The West Midlands Combined Authority actually submitted a bid to the Government for around £2 billion for transport schemes, but officials say they did not expect all the money to be provided directly by the Treasury at once.