Midland Metro’s Urbos 3 18 has left Wednesbury Depot to return to Spain for the fitting of batteries to allow its eventual operation on sections of line which will not have overhead wires installed. All of the trams will carry batteries but it is expected that only the first one – with 18 the chosen tram – will need to return to Spain for this to take place.
18 last ran in service on 6th January after which it was withdrawn from service to allow preparations to take place for its move to Spain. Having been kept inside the depot for over a week it was then dragged out into the yard and moved on the departure road where it was split into two (due to their length the Urbos 3 trams have always been moved in two sections) and loading commenced onto the two trailers on Tuesday 17th January.
Despite both trailers being more or less ready for departure that day they remained parked at the depot until they left on the morning of Wednesday 18th January bound for Poole and then Zaragoza, Spain. It is expected that 18 will return to the West Midlands in July.
It is planned that all of the Urbos 3 trams will be fitted with batteries as significant sections of the enlarged Midland Metro network will not have overhead installed partly to reduce costs but also in culturally sensitive areas where it is thought that the wires would ruin the outlook.
18 on 5th January shortly before withdrawal. (Photograph by Andy Walters)
18 is loaded onto the low loader at Wednesbury for its journey back to Spain. (Photograph courtesy of West Midlands Combined Authority)
An artists impression of a tram running through Victoria Square without wires installed. (Courtesy of West Midlands Combined Authority)
Surely bring persons and batteries from CAF to the UK is stead of hauling a tram back to Spain for batteries to be fitted and then to ship tram back.
Welcome to 2017. Ludicrous! Surely its not cost effective, unless there is a reason that the first one needs to be done in the factory.
Let’s hope the whole fleet gets retrofitted in time before the UK leaves the EU and the trams coming back are delayed by customs red tape and MM has to pay import duty on them.
The article states that it is expected only this one will go back to Spain, the rest will be retrofitted in the UK. This is typical, as the first modification is usually carried out in the manufacturer’s facility to ensure the remaining modifications can easily be carried out back in the UK.
That’s fair enough. Lets hope the new batteries are an improivement upon the Lithium-Ion ones fitted to the Boeing Dreamliners that burnt out several billion pounds worth of aircraft before they were fixed.
Makes sence for the builder to fit the first tram out , I’m sure its not has easy has throwing a few AA batteries on the roof and away we go !
What a folly. The areas planned without wires are no more ‘culturally’ sensitive than say St.Peters Sq and Albert Sq in Manchester with seem to look fine with wires! I spend my working day dealing with Lithium Batteries. There is not a cat in hell chance this will work out cheaper than OHLE. The batteries won’t be cheap and will need replacing probably after 5 years due to the constant charge/discharge.
As a side note, I wouldn’t want to be sat underneath one of these batteries should a bus/truck go into the side of a tram!
Since we published this article the West Midlands Combined Authority have confirmed further details. 18 will be fitted with the batteries and undergo extensive testing in Spain before returning to the West Midlands where it will then be used for more testing around the depot. Work will then start on fitting the rest of the fleet. It will cost £15.5m to fit all the trams with batteries but savings of £9.24 will be made on current extensions (with further extensions likely to see more savings).
A video the loading of the tram is available onYouTube.
Bearing in mind longer term costs on battery replacement over the 25 year life cycle of a tram then any savings will be wiped out. Hybrid bus batteries are lasting in some cases 3 years in London whilst some bus operators are actually getting rid of hybrids rather than renew the batteries. All the fuss over architectural sensitivity in a city that ploughed concrete motorways through its heart and built the monster that became New Street Station.
Artist impression has the groove the wrong way round.