Description

Full description from the producer:

Opening in May 1999 and known as Midland Metro, similar to other UK systems at the time, it incorporated city centre street running with a former disused railway line and it linked the cities of Wolverhampton and Birmingham via the towns of Bilston, West Bromwich and Wednesbury. Worked by a fleet of sixteen T69 trams, these were replaced by the current Urbos 3 vehicles in 2015 with the Urbos 100 type added from 2019.

After almost two decades of operation between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, extensions were added to Grand Central in 2016, Library in 2019, Edgbaston in 2022 and a branch to Wolverhampton station in 2023. Further huge expansions are planned which will double the size of the current system.

Filmed in summer 2025, this programme looks at what we know as the current one-line system, prior to further expansion, running from Wolverhampton Station to Edgbaston. The route is featured in detail with the non-electrified battery-operated sections, through the city of Birmingham, and parallel with national rail at Snow Hill, plus the most recently opened section to Wolverhampton Station with the original terminus at St. Georges, now disused.

Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of this system is the footpath which runs alongside the tramway, along the old railway trackbed, from The Hawthorns to Black Lake – a distance of about 3 miles. Here, much of the former railway infrastucture can be seen as the trams pass though a more rural tree-lined section, at the maximum line speed of 70kph.

Most of the current fleet is shown systemwide in DC and battery mode, with moves to/from depot at Wednesbury Parkway.

Additional information