West Midlands Metro services have only been able to run between West Bromwich Central and Edgbaston Village on Monday 7th April following overhead line damage close to the depot at Wednesbury.
The incident was first reported before the first tram of the day departed the depot at 0400 with a revised service immediately put into place:
- 5 trams running a shuttle between West Bromwich Central and Edgbaston Village
Ticket acceptance was agreed to allow Metro tickets to be used on alternative transport modes:
- National Express 79 bus between Wolverhampton Bus Station and West Bromwich Bus Station
- National Express 74 bus between West Bromwich Bus Station and Old Square, Birmingham
- All National Express city centre buses between Colmore Row and Hagley Road, Birmingham
- West Midlands Railway trains between Wolverhampton Station and Birmingham New Street
Engineers were called to the scene with assessment and repairs underway from early on Monay 7th April. A full service started to resume from 1600 following the completion of repairs.
Why can’t the trams run on their batteries for the distance of damaged overhead?
The wires could be dangling down
The damage likely wasnt safe to run underneath, the time taken to get it in a temporarily safe state, still requiring plant and a possesion may aswell be used repairing it outright.