There’s another milestone to report in the construction of an extension of the West Midlands Metro as the final piece of track has been welded into place on the Birmingham Eastside line. Whilst it will be many years before trams can run on this track, this marks the end of track laying and the current phase of construction along Digbeth High Street and follows on from the completion of work on the section of the extension at Lower Bull Street.
Anne Shaw, Executive Director of Transport for West Midlands, commented: “The completion of main construction along Digbeth High Street is fantastic news for those living and working in the area. It’s great to see how Digbeth has been transformed in recent months with the new track, paving and greenery, which have vastly improved the look of the area. This project will play such a pivotal role in the wider regeneration of the Eastside of Birmingham city centre. Although there remains a wait for trams services to start running in Digbeth while we await access to the Curzon Street Station site, there are plans to part-open extension with a temporary stop outside the Clayton Hotel to unlock some of these benefits for local people and businesses sooner.”
The Digbeth stretch of the route has also been enhanced with new paving, green infrastructure and landscaped areas as part of Birmingham City Council and the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Partnership’s masterplan to regenerate the area.
Maria Ion, Project Director from the Midland Metro Alliance, said: “We are all extremely delighted to have reached this key stage of construction along Digbeth High Street. I would like to thank all the businesses, residents and visitors for their patience while the construction was taking place. Although we will still be carrying out some activity in the area, our teams will continue to work closely with partners to minimise disruption wherever possible.”
Eventually the Birmingham Eastside line will from Bull Street to Digbeth, leaving the current city centre at a delta junction in Bull Street/Corporation Street. Running for 1.7km, over half of the route is due to be built without overhead wires, and it will provide key interchanges with Birmingham Coach Station and the Curzon Street HS2 station. Because of the HS2 works the full line will not be able to open for some time though and so agreement has been reached for a temporary terminus which will allow services to run as far as Moor Street Queensway from 2025/6.