Trams didn’t run on the West Midlands Metro for much of Friday 9th May 2025 because of issues with the overhead lines. The problem was first reported at the very start of service with trams not able to start entering service until early afternoon.
The exact cause of the issue is not known, or even where the issue was, but it meant that for the second time in a few weeks there was major disruption on the network for similar reasons.
This time it was the complete line between Edgbaston Village and Wolverhampton Station which was suspended. First reports on X came through just after 0500, with the announcement that trams were leaving depot to enter service being at around 1415.
The well-used disruption related ticket acceptance arrangements were again put into action. This saw tram tickets able to be used on West Midlands Railway and National Express West Midlands bus services between Birmingham and Wolverhampton and points in between.
Why can’t the trams use their batteries to get around the problem?
It was a power outage, not that they’d come down this time.
The use of batteries ( OESS ) On board storage systems, is only for short sections in Birmingham and sections we’re there is a problem .
Tram 18 the first equipped tram with batteries did a full round trip
Depot ,wolves ,grand Central , depot with no passingers on August 2019 with master test plot Paul Howell at the controls Hi mate ????batteries were almost flat after
Doing so with passengers would probably get just one end to end trip at reduced speed .
So it is impossible to run a service just on battiers alone , the overhead is a must .