Another tram not seen out on the West Midlands Metro for a while has broken cover out of Wednesbury Depot again with 17 noted on driver training between Edgbaston Village and St Chad’s on Wednesday 18th December 2024. And it then didn’t take long for it to return to passenger service as just 24 hours later it was in service once more!
17 was the first of the Urbos3 trams to be delivered as new to the West Midlands Metro when it arrived from Spain on 11th October 2013 and had an official launch just five days later. But it would be almost five years before it would be accepted for service with that being 23rd September 2016.
After the cracking issues experienced by the 21 Urbos3 trams, 17 would be sent to Dudley for repairs between October and December 2022 but that’s not where its itchy wheels ended as it has since made two trips for storage at Worksop. The first one saw it there between August 2023 and February 2024 before it departed again in May 2024 but is now back once again and on the rails for the first time in quite some time.
With the tram again being seen in service in the afternoon of Saturday 21st December 2024 it was noted as having 604,334km on the clock.
17 uses the crossover to the north of St Chad’s as it continues driver training. It will head back to Edgbaston Village on this next training run. (Photograph by Andy Walters, 18th December 2024)
Just a day later and it was back out, but this time in passenger service. Seen at Bilston Central. (Photograph by Andy Walters, 19th December 2024)