It has now been confirmed the major essential engineering works on Midland Metro will commence from Saturday 6th September (although the press release states this is the 8th so it could just as easily be Monday 8th!) and will now only last for up to 12 weeks. During the works no trams will be able to serve either The Royal or Wolverhampton St George’s with services from Birmingham Snow Hill only able to run as far as Priestfield. Of note is that the Urbos3 trams are due to enter passenger service from Friday 5th September so there will be one day of operation where these trams will be serving the current layout at St George’s before its platforms are lengthened.
During the work the tracks will be replaced with the new rail having a longer life than the current rails which will reducing maintenance and in turn future disruption. The work will take place mainly between The Royal and St George’s stops and will also see St George’s stop platforms increased in length so they can accommodate two Urbos3s whilst at The Royal a new crossover will be installed which will enable services to turn back there to again minimise disruption for passengers.
It is hoped that the work at The Royal will be completed first and when that is done trams will be able to run Snow Hill-The Royal rather than Priestfield. No estimated completion date for this first stage of works has been given.
During the closure Midland Metro tickets will be accepted on National Express West Midlands bus services (and Metro tickets will also be able to be purchased on board the buses). Bus routes 39 and 79 both run between Priestfield and Wolverhampton City Centre and extra buses are due to be put on during peak periods to cater for Midland Metro passengers.