There will be another change to West Midlands Metro services on Sunday 3rd September with no trams running before midday to allow for essential power systems upgrade works to take place.
This work had been due to take place a few weeks ago but despite the service being suspended along the length of the tramway for the start of service on that Sunday morning not all the work was able to be completed and so a new closure is now needed.
On Sunday 3rd September there will be no trams between Wolverhampton St George’s and Edgbaston Village until midday. A normal service will then resume after midday between The Royal and Edgbaston Village only, the section to Wolverhampton St George’s remains closed to allow driver training to take place on the extension to Wolverhampton Railway Station.
During the period of no trams there will be Metro ticket acceptance on:
- National Express bus 79 between Wolverhampton Bus Station and West Bromwich Bus Station
- National Express bus 74 between West Bromwich Bus Station and Old Square, Birmingham
- All National Express bus services between Colmore Road and Broad Street/Hagley Road
- West Midlands Trains between Wolverhampton and The Hawthorns, Jewellery Quarter, Snow Hill and Birmingham New Street
More details of walking routes to alternative transport options are on the West Midlands Metro website at https://westmidlandsmetro.com/disruptions/no-service-before-12-00-midday-sunday-3-september/
Surely it would have been easier to complete the works in one go rather than coming back to it.
That would have been far too easy – we are talking about the West Midlands Metro afterall
It rather sounds to me like the work planned for the original closure suffered an unexpected overrun and that the network had to be handed back before the work was completed to ensure that Monday morning services could operate as normal. Engineering work overruns aren’t exactly unheard of and can occur for a variety of reasons such as equipment failures, staffing problems or the discovery of unexpected conditions during the work. Decisions then have to be taken over mitigations to minimize the impact on scheduled services. The decision to take a second Sunday closure seems sensible viewed against the alternative of allowing the work to be finished whilst disrupting a weekday morning peak service.