It has been confirmed that the first four of the new fleet of Urbos3 trams for Midland Metro will carry their first passengers on Friday 5th September and not the August Bank Holiday weekend as had been previously rumoured.
So far 12 of the initial order of 20 trams have been delivered to the Wednesbury depot with arrivals recently being every fortnight although going forward it is expected new trams will arrive at the rate of at least one per month. At least one Urbos3 can be seen out on the Midland Metro line each day with a daily outing for one vehicle running at least two full length journeys stopping at each stop whilst on Wednesday and Thursday evenings full driver training and commissioning runs are undertaken.
At this stage it is not known which four of the 12 will enter service on 5th September but it is likely that some of the earlier deliveries will be used. As more trams become available for use Midland Metro service frequency will be able to be increased to every six minutes throughout the day.
Tram No 21 out on training today – Saw at Wednesbury Parkway 12.40pm.
going towards Wolverhampton St.Georges. Five minutes later another un-numbered come out of the depot into distant view and then ran back into the depot.