TRAM: British and Australian (American usually streetcar also trolley) noun [C] An electric vehicle that transports people, usually in cities, and goes along metal tracks in the road. (Taken from the Cambridge English Dictionary)
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This Page was last updated Sunday 1st July 2007
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NEW NETWORK WEST MIDLANDS LIVERY LAUNCHED ON 09
Midland Metro – Sunday 1st July 2007
Midland Metro’s tram 09 has officially appeared in a new livery promoting Network West Midlands after returning from its accident in December 2006. The tram is now in a striking silver and magenta livery after rebuilding at Alstom in Crewe. Tram 09 was launched at Birmingham Snow Hill on Friday morning, 29 June, though it had been in traffic once or twice already.
Rebranded and liveried car 09 at Birmingham Snow Hill. The colours are officially silver and magenta.
The rebuild is in fact a “cut and shut” with the undamaged halves of 09 and 10 which hit it, with the 10 half at the Wolverhampton end and 09 at the Birmingham end. British Trams Online understands the transponders on the car tell Control that 10 is travelling towards Wolverhampton and 09 towards Birmingham.
Centro-WMPTA's lead member for rail and Metro operations, Councillor Roger Horton, applies a ceremonial lick of magenta paint to the newly reliveried tram 09 at Birmingham Snow Hill. He said: “The new Network West Midlands branding is becoming more and more visible across the region as it is rolled out on to our multi-modal public transport network. The new striking livery applied to this tram perfectly ties in with the recently painted buses and trains, and all the Network West Midlands branding shown at bus, train and Metro stops and stations which provides an easy-to-use integrated public transport system for residents and visitors to the region.”
Network West Midlands is the branding applied by West Midlands transport promoter Centro-WMPTA to the buses, trams and trains within the region. The rebranding has been rolled out across the region in the past six months. It has already been applied to tram stops, but tram 09 is the first to receive a new livery. Officially described as silver and magenta, the magenta is a pale pink that two random Birmingham ladies called “shocking pink” when asked their views. The inside of the tram has also been given a makeover with reupholstered seats using a new style of moquette and a new seat for the driver. The West Midlands’ trains have been branded with a green colour and the buses orange, while the general network colour is blue.
Network West Midlands Bus/Train/Tram branding.
Next to appear in the new livery will be tram 07 in the Autumn. 07 was badly damaged in an argument with a steel lorry about seven years ago, and has been a source of spare parts ever since. 10 should follow but after that the programme is uncertain. The rest of the fleet, built between 1997 and 1999, will probably be given a half life refurbishment, though the 16 Ansaldo T69 trams will be sold off following the opening of two planned extensions in 2012, provided the Government gives the go-ahead next year.
Rebranded car 09 approaches St Paul's from Birmingham Snow Hill. This end is the undamaged half of tram 10.
Source & All Photos: Graham Sidwell, Editor Tramfare
