Metro link will not be ready for 2022 Games
AMETRO extension linking Bull Street with Digbeth in Birmingham will not be ready in time for the Commonwealth Games, it has been confirmed.
The project may not even be completed by its original target date due to delays in the planning stage of the process, an officer for the combined authority revealed.
As part of Transport for West Midlands’ (TfWM) multi-million pound metro project, a 1.7km line linking Line One at Bull Street with Digbeth was due to be completed by November 2022.
The project, which has an estimated budget of £152.2 million, was due to have four new stops at Albert Street, New Canal Street (HS2), Meriden Street and High Street Deritend (coach station).
During a recent meeting of the WMCA’s Transport Delivery Committee, Conservative Councillor Timothy Huxtable questioned whether the project could be deliv- ered in time for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, citing the fact that “a lot of people will be arriving at Digbeth coach station and will want to get into Birmingham city centre and beyond”.
However, Metro project director Phil Hewitt said that the original start date was dependent on the government granting TfWM powers to begin construction, which it has yet to do.
As such, he continued, there was almost no chance of the opening date of the line being moved forward, with little chance of it even hitting its projected opening date of November 2022.
“That start date was predicated on us having the powers last June, and
something having the funding in place by now,” he said.
“The powers have not been awarded, and even if a decision was made tomorrow the powers would not be confirmed until the end of March, which is a nine-month delay.
“That means that there is no realistic prospect that we could accelerate the work sufficiently to actually get in and do that – bearing in mind that once we’ve got the powers we’ve got to finalise the business case and get the government to approve the funding allocation.
“So based on where we’re at today, I would say there’s no prospect that we would be able to bring forward the Birmingham Eastside project ahead of its original date of November 2022.
“In reality I would suggest it’s somewhat behind that as well, simply because with no powers we can’t start work, and some of the key interfaces around HS2 and things like that have to start imminently.
“And without the powers we are going to have to reschedule how we work.”