One of three West Midlands Metro extensions currently being worked on – and the longest of the trio – is that to Dudley and Brierley Hill. Due to be delivered in two phases (because of funding shortfalls), the section between Wednesbury and Dudley is due to open in 2024 and with this in mind work on installing the infrastructure to allow trams to run has been progressing in recent months.
There have been works in erecting new bridges on the route towards Dudley whilst within Dudley itself there has been some good progress on the laying of track. This has been particularly evident in front of Dudley Zoo on Castle Hill where much of the track has been laid and the final road surface put down too.
The progress of this track laying enabled two way traffic along Castle Hill to resume at the end of January and although there followed some overnight closures it is now fully open again.
This photo looks along Castle Hill towards the entrance to Dudley Zoo (on the right hand side). As can be seen the tracks are on a reserved section down the middle of the road – the tracks head to the right, they don’t just randomly stop in the middle of the road! (Photograph by Mark Cufflin, 6th March 2023)