More tram shortages lead to reduced service on West Midlands Metro

Whilst much of the country has seen service reductions over the past few months as a result of staff shortages it seems that the West Midlands Metro are having a completely different problem leading to a reduced service – tram shortages. Although services did manage to resume in December after the complete month long service suspension as a result of the cracks discovered and it seemed as if things were improving recently there have been several occasions when not enough trams have been available to run leading to an irregular service.

One of the worst days recently was on Tuesday 1^st February when tweets on the official West Midlands Metro feed confirmed that services would running but with “delays to the 10 minutes service”. This basically meant that there were gaps in the service and at one stage only five trams were running in passenger service. In response to tweets it was confirmed that the reason for the disruption to the service was tram availability.

As we’ve seen and mentioned many a time since November when it was publicly announced, the entire fleet of Urbos3 trams was withdrawn for remedial action as a result of cracks discovered. Repairs were undertaken on a selection of trams which enabled trams to start running again in December although only between Bull Street and Wolverhampton St George’s. The Urbos3 trams were joined by some of the newer Urbos 100 vehicles and it appeared that things were improving and that we could enjoy a better service going forward – including along the complete length of the line.

But since the initial entry into service of trams in December there have been very few different trams cleared for service which has become more noticeable recently and has led to this reduced service. In a recent update from West Midlands Metro – announcing a delay in reopening to Library – hey said more trams were being worked on and that the commissioning was taking place which would allow a fuller service to run from Sunday 6^th February. But now less than a week before then and there are fewer trams than ever available so it really does remain to be seen whether  that date is achievable or even when a full 10 minute service from Bull Street to Wolverhampton St George’s can be resumed.

For now though anyone travelling on the West Midlands Metro will need to keep an eye on social media from West Midlands Metro to see what service is able to be run each day and a much improved service was running on 2nd February.

Fed-up passengers wait for a tram at West Bromwich Central.

Anyone travelling to Birmingham gets lucky as 21 arrives although it would be a packed tram as a result of the service delays.

To compound the issues, several of the trams are also having to run on battery power on the approach to Wolverhampton St George’s. The reason is apparently because the pantographs are of the wrong type and don’t stretch enough to reach the wire! 19, 20 and 22 are all fitted with these pantographs as we see 20 here. (All Photographs by Andy Walters, 1st February 2022)