Earlier this year West Midlands Metro ran a competition for Primary school pupils to design a logo for the 25th anniversary of the tram system. As well as seeing their logo on trams and on merchandise, part of the prize was for a behind the scenes tour of Wednesbury Depot and this took place in July.
9 year old Pargunn Kaur Birring was among 10 pupils from Wattville Primary School who enjoyed a guided tour of the workshops, training facilities and the high tech control room. They also got behind the controls of a virtual tram thanks to the state of the art training simulator.
Sophie Allison, West Midlands Metro Managing Director, said: “It was a real pleasure to welcome the children to the heart of our operations, and to see how interested they were in all the hard work that goes into keeping the trams running.
“Throughout the day, they got to see how trams are maintained and prepared before going into service, and how we monitor their movements when they’re out and about on the network. They were also given a chance to have a go on our driver simulators used to train our new and existing drivers, as we shared with them how we train new team members and the skills required to become a tram driver.”
A representative from Wattville Primary School commented: “We would like to thank everyone at West Midlands Metro for their warm hospitality. The children were thrilled to learn about the workings of a tram system and its significance as a safe, convenient, and sustainable transport option in the region.”