{"id":28665,"date":"2019-07-13T10:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-13T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=28665"},"modified":"2019-07-12T20:56:53","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T19:56:53","slug":"in-pictures-birmingham-westside-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=28665","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: Birmingham Westside extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It will be the next tram extension to open in the UK and should be open within the next six months (opening still remains promised for late 2018). We are, of course, talking about the Birmingham Westside extension of West Midlands Metro which will see trams running from the current Grand Central terminus through Victoria Square to Centenary Square as phase one of this line (by 2021 trams will head to Hagley Road, Edgbaston). The line will also be the first UK tram line to be built without overhead wires allowing the CAF Urbos 3 trams to operate under battery power. This pictorial update shows the scene of the line in early July.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_28666\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=28666\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-28666\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28666\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-28666\" title=\"1.pinfold-aw\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/1.pinfold-aw-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-28666\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Looking up Pinfold Street from Stephenson Street to Victoria Square with track in place and the block paving continuing to be laid.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_28667\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=28667\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-28667\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28667\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-28667\" title=\"2.pinfold-aw\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2.pinfold-aw-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-28667\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A small section of track remains to be put down on Pinfold Street as seen here looking down towards New Street Station with the tramway curving to the left between the two brick buildings seen here.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_28668\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=28668\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-28668\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28668\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-28668\" title=\"3.victoria-aw\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/3.victoria-aw-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-28668\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Into Victoria Square where spacers are across the area where the track base will be laid before the track itself and then top surface.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_28669\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=28669\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-28669\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28669\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-28669\" title=\"4.victoria-aw\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/4.victoria-aw-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-28669\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Waiting for more track base ahead of track laying.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_28670\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=28670\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-28670\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28670\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-28670\" title=\"5.victoria-aw\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/5.victoria-aw-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-28670\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The one intermediate stop on the first phase of this extension will be in Victoria Square and the foundations of that are seen in this view with track also down.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_28671\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=28671\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-28671\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28671\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-28671\" title=\"6.victoria-aw\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/6.victoria-aw-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-28671\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">More track is down here in this busy scene.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_28672\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=28672\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-28672\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28672\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-28672\" title=\"7.centenary-aw\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7.centenary-aw-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-28672\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Centenary Square with more track down outside HSBC.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_28673\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=28673\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-28673\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28673\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-28673\" title=\"8.centenary-aw\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/8.centenary-aw-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-28673\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A close-up of the track in Centenary Square. (All Photographs by Andy Walters, 11th July 2019)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It will be the next tram extension to open in the UK and should be open within the next six months (opening still remains promised for late 2018). We are, of course, talking about the Birmingham Westside extension of West &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=28665\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28665"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28688,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28665\/revisions\/28688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}