West Midlands Metro service resumes

Trams back in public operation later than expected after body panel replacement.

A LIMITED service resumed on the West Midlands Metro network from June 9, following successful testing of the first trams to emerge from a body panel replacement programme.

Assurances had previously been given that they would start by the end of May, but operator Midland Metro Ltd said this had not been possible due to what it described as “snagging work” which needed to be completed before the trams met “the quality standards required to be accepted for service”.

Detailed assessment

The major programme of work involving CAF, the manufacturer of the vehicles, followed a detailed assessment of the fleet, launched after body panel cracks were found on a number of ‘Urbos 3’ trams.

These discoveries led to the service being suspended on March 19 – the third stoppage in nine months due to problems with the WMM ‘Urbos 3’ fleet. The previous two suspensions were down to bogie box cracking, for which permanent repairs were carried out late last year.

Service

In a statement prior to the system’s reopening to the public, operator Midland Metro Ltd said that the number of ‘Urbos 3’ trams which were now available for use, combined with recently delivered and commissioned ‘Urbos 100s’ (which were already due to augment the fleet before the series of ‘Urbos 3’ problems) meant it was now able to deliver a consistent service.

Initially, trams were diagrammed to run every 12-15 minutes between Wolverhampton St Georges and Bull Street in Birmingham.

A full service is expected to be running by the time the Commonwealth Games begin on July 28.