{"id":53166,"date":"2024-03-27T22:00:12","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T22:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=53166"},"modified":"2024-03-27T20:12:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T20:12:19","slug":"in-pictures-west-midlands-metro-rail-replacement-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=53166","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: West Midlands Metro rail replacement work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As reported on previously on <em>British Trams Online<\/em> there is currently work ongoing on the West Midlands Metro network with three main sets of work taking place. Whilst the headline news has been the connecting of the Dudley extension to the existing network and there is also bridge works also underway, there is also key rail replacement work taking place which is what this pictorial article takes a look at.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>So far, work on replacing the rails has been taking place at three locations: The Hawthorns, Kenrick Park and West Bromwich Central. The track is being replaced through the stops (a number of which have had temporary speed restrictions in place for a while) and this has required the removal of the block paving and the pedestrian crossings. Further work is required on welding the new rail and replacing the block paving and full pedestrian crossings. The full rail replacement work is due to be completed by Wednesday 10<sup>th<\/sup> April when the line between Wednesbury Great Western Street and Edgbaston Village is due to be reopened.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_53167\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=53167\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-53167\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53167\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-53167\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/1.westbrom-aw-550x294.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"294\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-53167\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">West Bromwich Central with much of the block paving removed. Note the rails are painted blue in the middle of the picture.<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_53168\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=53168\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-53168\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53168\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-53168\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/2.kenrick-aw-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-53168\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is Kenrick Park where we see workers on site removing the old rails and replacing them with new. (Photographs x2 by Andy Walters, 25th March 2024)<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_53169\" style=\"width: 423px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?attachment_id=53169\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-53169\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53169\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-53169\" src=\"http:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/3.hawthorns-mc-413x550.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"413\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/3.hawthorns-mc-413x550.jpg 413w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/3.hawthorns-mc-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/3.hawthorns-mc.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-53169\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">And at The Hawthorns. This gives a rare sight of the sleepers which are hidden by the pedestrian crossing which has been removed to allow attention to the rail here. (Photograph by Mark Cufflin, 25th March 2024)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As reported on previously on British Trams Online there is currently work ongoing on the West Midlands Metro network with three main sets of work taking place. Whilst the headline news has been the connecting of the Dudley extension to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/?p=53166\">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\/53166"}],"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=53166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53170,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53166\/revisions\/53170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}