The new year may only be a few days old but we already have our first new tram in service for 2023 – and it’s the West Midlands Metro who have that honour with 48 being used for the first time on Wednesday 4th January. 48 was the last of the trams delivered to Wednesbury and its entry into service now means there are no new trams in the UK waiting for commissioning at the present time.
48 had been delivered to the West Midlands on 25th November 2022 and with it entering service on 4th January 2023 it becomes the quickest of the Urbos100 trams to start running so far. (Its been 41 days with the previous quickest being 52 days for 46). When seen in service early morning – it had been one of the first trams out on the day – there were 1729km on the clock.
The first day for 48 wasn’t a long one though as it was taken out of service around lunchtime. Its replacement was the previous tram to enter service – 47.
There are another 10 Urbos100 trams on order but its not currently known when the next one will be delivered from Spain.
Welcome to service 48! This photo is at Wednesbury Pakrway when it was running to Edgbaston Village.
48 runs along Corporation Street with a return trip to Wolverhampton St George’s.
A close-up of the end number of 48.
The interior of 48 as it heads along the line on its first day of use. (All Photographs by Andy Walters, 4th January 2023)
Surely the depot will need expanding first
The depot was built with a capacity of 60 trams. Once the remaining 10 arrive, there will be 42 trams in the fleet (17-58) leaving capacity for a further 18.