The leader of Birmingham City Council – Cllr Mike Whitby – has refused to give his backing for the extension of Midland Metro from Snow Hill to Five Ways via the city centre during a video press conference in China. He was asked three times during the conference whether the tram extension through the city centre would be a priority if the money was in place and each time he did not give any backing towards the plan.
Cllr Whitby was talking at the launch of the “Big City Plan” – a 30 year plan which sets out the future expansion of Birmingham city centre. The plan itself also does not give any guarantees on the future of Metro extensions saying only that it “may” be built. However, the plan does state that a bus rapid transit scheme may be developed as an alternative to Metro.
Current thinking within the City Council now seems to favour a short extension from Snow Hill to New Street (let’s not forget a viaduct is currently being built at Snow Hill to take the tracks for this) funded mainly through private contributions. It is believed that any further extension of line from here would be to Birmingham Airport and the NEC from New Street station as Councillors think this would make more economic sense than Five Ways.
Centro – the local PTA – believe that both routes to Five Ways and the Airport will be needed for future Metro extensions. Geoff Inskip, Chief Executive of Centro, commented: “The Big City Plan provides us with the ideal opportunity to look at connecting all rail stations to all parts of the city centre and take forward our plans to link Metro to the redeveloped New Street Station, Five Ways and to Birmingham International Airport, Quinton and Great Barr. We look forward to working with Birmingham City Council to take this ideal opportunity, through the Big City Plan, to bring these plans to fruition.”
The Big City Plan, however, does not agree. It states: “While the transport and regeneration benefits of trams are well understood in many modern cities, the costs and practical issues surrounding their implementation are considerable. Bus rapid transit is an intermediate mode between buses and trams, with optional features such as better vehicles, enhanced priority through guideways and less frequent stops than conventional buses.”
* A video report on this story from BBC West Midlands Today is available here (thanks to Stephen Leigh for this link).
Source: Birmingham Post