Saturday 24th October will be the last chance to catch a tram from the original Birmingham Snow Hill terminus on Midland Metro with the line from there to St Paul’s being closed from the start of service the following day to allow for the connection of city centre extension to the current line. It will take around six weeks for this work to take place and when the line reopens trams will be diverted onto the new line and in an unexpected move will run to the new stop at Bull Street and not just onto the viaduct to the new Snow Hill stop.
From Sunday 25th October all Midland Metro services from Wolverhampton St George’s will be terminated at St Paul’s with a replacement bus being provided from there to Snow Hill for passengers wishing to continue their journey. There will also be a well signposted walking route into the city centre. Any passengers who wish to continue their journey by train from Jewellery Quarter are advised that they must have a valid train ticket as Midland Metro only tickets will not be valid.
The six week closure period will enable engineers to install a new junction on the track and the signalling equipment and the much anticipated overhead will be installed on the extension at the same time. With plans for services to run through to Bull Street once the work is completed presumably this six week closure will also be used for initial gauging runs and full testing and commissioning which considering how long it has taken to get this far (with the construction work seemingly having gone on for a very long time) seems rather ambitious.
Once the line opens as far as Bull Street the final stage of the line to Birmingham New Street via Corporation Street is expected to be ready for its first passengers by the end of December as part of the plan. A plan which many have recently expressed doubt would actually be achieved but it seems Centro are still positive of this happening.
The rather cramped conditions of the Midland Metro Snow Hill terminus will soon be a thing of the past with the last trams due to depart from this location on Saturday 24th October. This view, taken on 22nd September this year, shows 29 at Snow Hill waiting its next duty. (Photograph by Gareth Prior)
Why on earth there is to be a replacement bus – the normal service on Constitutional Hill is far superior to that to Bilston that passengers were expected to use and traveline only gives the walking time as six minutes anyway. It also beggars belief that it hasn’t been arranged to pass tram passengers on the train.
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I haven’t seen a hard copy but this pdf has Snowhill as one word!
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http://goo.gl/52uEnZ
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It may be because of the annual german market that they may have delayed trams going to new st.
It takes 6 weeks to put a junction in ?!?
I don’t know for sure but I would imagine other work is taking place during tis 6 week period as well. The overhead hasn’t been installed as yet and if they are planning on trams running through to Bull Street when the closure ends then there will have to be commissioning and testing on the extension.