West Midlands Metro tram services return date confirmed for Birmingham to Wolverhampton services only

Tram services in Birmingham city centre are set to return next week - days after the previous return date given by Spanish manufactuerers CAF which was expected to be the end of May.

Services will resume in the week beginning Sunday, June 5, with trams running between Wolverhampton St George’s and Birmingham Bull Street only.

The limited service was due to return at the end of May, but Midland Metro Limited has said its Spanish manufacturer CAF have not been able to provide enough trams which has delayed the timings. The local transport provicer said it shared passengers’ frustrations that the original timescale given by CAF has not been met.”

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) say repairs to fix the trams are currently ‘progressing well’, and although the only service to resume at the start of June will be the one between Bull street and Wolverhampton, more are expected to follow shortly.

Officials say they are confident the full service will be in operation in good time ahead of this summer’s Commonwealth Games.

All metro services in the region were suspended for a third time in nine months in March, after cracks appeared on some of the older trams.

Due to the cracks, Midland Metro Limited had required CAF to replace the panels rather than repair the existing panels.

What has Midlands Metro Limited said about the return of service?

A statement from Midland Metro Limited, read: “This return to service has been enabled by the replacement of tram body panels progressing to schedule.

“We are now looking to accelerate repairs to get more trams back out on our network as quickly and safely as possible to restore a full service.

“We are working with CAF as the manufacturer to recruit more engineers to carry out the specialist repair work as well as moving trams off-site to a third-party facility – with the first of these having left the Wednesbury depot this week.

“With this acceleration we remain very confident that a full service will be in operation in good time ahead of this summer’s Commonwealth Games.

“We of course share passengers’ frustrations that the original timescale provided by CAF to restore a service next week has not been met.

“Despite assurances that enough trams would be available, they have now informed us that this is now not possible until the following week due to further snagging work required before the trams meet the quality standards required for acceptance into service.

“So as not to delay the reinstatement of service any further than absolutely necessary, once this essential snagging work has been carried out some trams will be running without being fully wrapped in blue vinyl branding around the doors. This will not impact their safety or performance.

“We would once again like to sincerely apologies for the inconvenience the suspension of service has caused. Further updates will be issued in due course.”

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