Tram cracks: West Midlands Metro targets restart
WEST Midlands Metro says it is still aiming to restart services at “the end of May” (after this issue of RAIL went to press), after cracks in its 21-strong fleet of CAF Urbos 3 trams led to suspension of the Wolverhampton-Birmingham operation on March 20, for the third time in less than a year.
Three of the Spanish-built Urbos 3 trams have been repaired, but internal refitting is yet to be completed.
Twelve days ahead of its hopedfor reopening, spokesman Martin Farrow told RAIL: “Repairs are progressing and we’re still aiming to launch the service by the end of the month.”
It has yet to be decided whether the full 14-mile line to Birmingham Library will be operated, or only as far south as Bull Street, short of New Street station. A minimum of 12 trams are required for a Wolverhampton-Bull Street service.
Crucially, the West Midlands
Combined Authority, which owns and runs the line, has just eight weeks until the July 28 opening of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, for which trams are to play a key role.
Farrow would not be drawn on whether the system will be ready, only saying: “The aim is for a substantive service for the Games.”
He confirmed that the unique nature of the West Midlands system means that no other UK trams are compatible, so vehicles cannot be hired.
The situation has been slightly eased by the commissioning of seven of the first eight deliveries of 21 new Urbos 100 trams, also from CAF, with the balance due in 2023 for the opening of extensions to Wolverhampton railway station and Edgbaston (south of Birmingham city centre).
Introduced from 2014, the Urbos 3 trams were withdrawn and services suspended for four days in June 2021, after cracks were discovered during a routine inspection.
On November 13 2021, the fleet
was again withdrawn, this time for four weeks, after further cracks were discovered that required more significant repairs.
The situation worsened once repairs got under way and revealed the extent of the damage, leading to the current suspension. It was then decided that all bodyside panels would be replaced.
Although the same basic design as Edinburgh’s trams, the West Midlands Urbos are made from aluminium rather than steel, to reduce weight.
Comprising five sections with four articulations, three modules are on bogies and two are suspended. Using integral construction, they do not have a conventional chassis, with the body panels as a core part of the load-bearing structure.
Worldwide, 825 Urbos 3 trams (steel version) are in operation without issue. The aluminium design has also been supplied to Belgrade in Serbia (30) and to Sydney in Australia (12), and all are affected by similar issues. All of Sydney’s trams are temporarily withdrawn.
The problem centres around cracking of the bogie box (a structure that the bogie connects to in the absence of a conventional underframe), with cracks first observed around the door frames.