• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team

Metro Progress 2022

Vivienne14

Vivienne14

Kentish Brummie Moderator
Staff member
This is a moderator generated thread which will be open for comments on 1/1/2022.

The previous thread for 2021 is here. Viv.

Metro progress 2021

This thread is a moderator generated thread. It is open for posts covering the period 1 January until 31 December. When the period ends, a moderator will close this thread then open a new thread on the subject for the following year. We look forward to your contributions. The Admin Team
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
Had the metro plans proceeded without interruption the West Midlands Metro could be open to Five Ways and yet there is stagnation with trams running from St Georges to Bull Street, providing that no cars break down or crash with the trams on road section, which has been a recent problem.

The CAF issue of trams with cracks probably should include about compensation and also perhaps should other trams could been obtained in the interim from the makers to compensate for the problems with the trams. But then if such problems have been found on other trams may be there is a case for another maker to be found especially with the route extension which are planned to Dudley and Brierley Hill.

Thoughts related to shambles come to mind especially when the expensive track renewal also caused problems.
In addition to non running of services there are also the consideration for lost traffic over the Christmas period and the cost to business along the route
 
Heartland said:
Had the metro plans proceeded without interruption the West Midlands Metro could be open to Five Ways and yet there is stagnation with trams running from St Georges to Bull Street, providing that no cars break down or crash with the trams on road section, which has been a recent problem.

The CAF issue of trams with cracks probably should include about compensation and also perhaps should other trams could been obtained in the interim from the makers to compensate for the problems with the trams. But then if such problems have been found on other trams may be there is a case for another maker to be found especially with the route extension which are planned to Dudley and Brierley Hill.

Thoughts related to shambles come to mind especially when the expensive track renewal also caused problems.
In addition to non running of services there are also the consideration for lost traffic over the Christmas period and the cost to business along the route
Click to expand...
well said heartland...my opinion is as with the building of the new library the metro is yet another white elephant..not fit for purpose and costing the city more money and disruption to try and correct the faults...yet again we were promised so much but received so little

lyn
 
With the building of the new Library, I was convinced that the previous one held a prime position as a research centre. Even now the new Library has to reach that status, but then Covid has not helped.

There is one aspect of the West Midlands tram saga which seems to have been out of their control and that was the cracks that caused the trams to be withdrawn. It was highlighted in the previous thread that other trams in different countries had been affected and it also appears the Northern Trains had similar issue which led to stock made by CAF to be withdrawn for repairs.
 
In recent years there has been a worldwide surplus of steel production. I wonder if the steel producers have been lowering their production standards in an effort to compete. thus possibly causing these problems
 
The latest is that trams will run once again between Bull Street and the library from 30/1. We can but hope....
 
I think the Metro idea was not a bad one, it seems to me, that it is the quality of the trams and the tracks that are the main problem, along with it seems, the inability to be able to go back to the providers to seek to have some of the money spent reimbursed due to it being not fit for purpose or to have repairs carried out in a timely nature at their cost.

Tis perhaps a pity that the local authorities were so ready to rip up the old tram lines and to get rid of the old trams all of those years ago....
 
Coincidentally yesterday I was in the pub and made similar comments as those I put in post 6 to a lady also there. I had never met her befire, but she had worked in the rail industry all get working life including 25 years on the tube and had recently returned to it as a consultant, and she completely agreed with me. Off topic, but She also explained many of the problems had by crossrail
 
Last edited:
The old tram lines were of a narrower gauge, modern trams have a wider gauge and the trams are wider bodied with capacity increased.

And yes it does seem that the trams are due to run back to the Library. Last week contractors were repairing parts of the track in Corporation Street
 
Whilst at the end of January timetables were put up at Grand Central on the metro, no trams have yet to run there and the trams terminate at Bull Street.

If you take the I S & O out of FIASCO and add an R and an E you get FARCE
 
Another target date missed then Heartland. It really isn't good enough, I wonder what lame excuse they will come up with this time, or have they given up trying to find one now?:(
 
I saw the trams on trial on Friday and I gather they started to run to the Library on Saturday 12th February.

So far have not heard of the reason for the delay this time, but at least they are running now and the next extension will be to Five Ways. The route is still a linear one, but the track will be extended to Wolverhampton Station creating a branch and work is also proceeding on the line to Dudley and Curzon Street and the greater network will be an important step for Trams in the West Midlands
 
Are not the tracks already to wolves station? They seemed to be laying them there when I was there in June
 
Is this additional cracks in addition to those that closed the service a few months ago, or just that the original cracks were not correctly repaired and have opened up again?. Sub standard product seems to be a common feature of modern trams and trains (as with GWR having to service all its high speed trains after a similar happening there.. I hope that the Metro will be receiving full compensatiion from those at CAF who obviously either cannot properly design vehicles or are using sub standard steel in their construction.
 
mikejee said:
Is this additional cracks in addition to those that closed the service a few months ago, or just that the original cracks were not correctly repaired and have opened up again?. Sub standard product seems to be a common feature of modern trams and trains (as with GWR having to service all its high speed trains after a similar happening there.. I hope that the Metro will be receiving full compensatiion from those at CAF who obviously either cannot properly design vehicles or are using sub standard steel in their construction.
Click to expand...
probably new cracks mike although i admit i have not fully read the write up

lyn
 
The quotes from West Midlands Metro look strikingly similar to those excuses given by them on previous occasions when the Metro service was suspended, it seems they are almost reading from a list of approved excuses ;) . Old or new cracks, I would have thought they had more than enough time to have found them or to have identified a potential to crack, during the months they had available to inspect them, when the service was last suspended. What a way to run (or not to run) a railroad!
 
It seems that other cities are having problems with these CAF trams ...
Sydney's Inner West light rail – a key part of Sydney's transport network used daily by thousands of passengers – has been shut down for up to 18 months. Cracks have been identified in every tram of the Inner West light rail, forcing the entire fleet off the tracks just as people begin returning to the office. Between 15,000 and…

Sydney’s light rail nightmare, which has seen services suspended for up to 18 months, appears to have gone global with another tram system abruptly shutting down for repairs this week.

Transport bosses in the British city of Birmingham have announced the suspension of all tram services “until further notice” after similar cracks to those found in Sydney were discovered on its carriages.

Sydney and Birmingham use the same Spanish made trams from manufacturer CAF. Similar vehicles also run on the Canberra and Newcastle tram systems.

FOLLOWING protracted negotiations, CAF has agreed to conduct remedial work at its own cost on 19 23.6m-long three-section Urbos LRVs operated in the French city of Besançon, after cracks were discovered in the bodies of the low-floor vehicles in December 2017.

Similar problems were subsequently identified in CAF Urbos LRVs used in Belgrade.
Click to expand...
 
"FOLLOWING protracted negotiations, CAF has agreed to conduct remedial work at its own cost on 19 23.6m-long three-section Urbos LRVs operated in the French city of Besançon, after cracks were discovered in the bodies of the low-floor vehicles in December 2017."

Given CAF have agreed to meet the cost of Besançon's repairs (as per post 23 above), I trust they will be told to do the same for Birmingham.
 
I'm a private citizen who witnessed the Metro's success over the past decade. I want to share that great story with the world, one of the best ways to do that is through a series of short videos. I would like to interview an expert in the field of urban planning and transportation, similar to what Smarter Cities is doing with cities like Chicago, Toronto and Singapore.
 
This is probably the wrong moment to discuss success. The West Midlands Metro story began with failure as Phil Bateman and his team was unable to progress the original scheme through Hodge Hill. Then began the gradual reconstruction of infrastructure along the route to Wolverhampton replacing in some cases the J R Mc Clean bridges and the later GWR structures that needed reconstruction. That line opened in 1999. Gradually the metro has expanded through the street to Bull Street, New Street Station and the Library. There are unopened sections to Five Ways and Wolverhampton Station and the branch to Curzon Street is still only 2 sets of points ending above a chasm and concrete work still being made. On the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill section the engineers face the original infrastructure of J R Mc Clean for the South Staffordshire Railway and that of Brunel and Fowler for the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway. Engineers seem to be progressing well with a new concrete bridge over Victoria Road and a new steel bridge across the Old Birmingham Canal with major construction needed at the skew crossing for Sedgley Road West.

As to the trams the new trams recently delivered are on test. I saw tram 41 in Corporation Street on Tuesday last and 44 in Bull Street on Thursday. The many radio interviews on the subject have mentioned the recent problem has been new cracks by the doors. Will the new vehicles experience the problems of the old? That remains to be seen! Perhaps the most remarkable statement has been the decision not to find a replacement maker. The reason given was that the section from Grand Central to the Library needed battery operation and the West Midlands Metro are unique in that respect. What has not been done is to find replacement trams for the bulk of their network and with that mistake it may be that the WM Alliance may be challenged with compensation claims.
 
BBC news - Birmingham is saying that the tram service will resume in May. I work on Bull Street and we have just had 3 days of them re digging up the pavement outside of the Priory Court. I asked one of the workers why it was being done again he said "communication they forgot to put the ducting in"....more costs!
 
thanks heartland...the cement around the hole does not look ancient stuff suggesting that this hole has been seen before...do you know what was actually covering the hole..looks like they are digging the pavement up

lyn
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top