Urbos 3 33 enters service on Midland Metro

The Midland Metro operational fleet is now up to 15 Urbos 3s following the entry into service of 33 on Wednesday 17th June. The tram had been undergoing commissioning, testing and mileage accumulation over the past few months and it has now been passed for service with 2411km already on the clock (each tram has to run 1800km before it can be considered for service).

The operational Urbos 3 fleet now consists of 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 33 with the first delivered tram – 17 – still not having been cleared for service and an entry into service for this vehicle still seems to be a long way off as it has not even commenced testing.

With 15 Urbos 3s operational the need for the T69s to be used are now few and far between and it really does now finally (after several false dawns) look as if the end if really coming for the original Midland Metro trams. The last two days have seen a full Urbos 3 service with only 16 being in use on Monday 15th June.

It is now understood that only three T69s can be used in service and these are 06, 10 and 16. Of these 16 was not used for the first couple of weeks in June but has now been resurrected for one last hurrah. The eagle eyed amongst will notice that last time we reported on Midland Metro 08 was also serviceable but this has now been stabled at the bottom of the depot yard amongst the other withdrawn trams and is now considered unavailable for use.

33 is seen here at Loxdale on its first day in passenger service - 17th June 2015. (Photograph by Andy Walters)