The first Coventry Very Light Rail vehicle looks set to operate in the city centre this year with plans to construct a 220 metre track along Greyfriars Road and Queen Victoria Road due to be approved by the Council\u2019s Cabinet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Both the track and the first Very Light Rail vehicle have been successfully tested at the Very Light Rail Innovation Centre in Dudley and the project is now due to move on to the next stage of testing which will see on-street track laid ahead of further runs of the vehicle.<\/p>\n
Cllr Jim O\u2019Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs and Regeneration and Climate Change, said: \u201cThe trial will allow us to showcase the technology in the city centre as well as testing the revolutionary track-laying system which can be installed\u00a0without significant disruption to utilities such as gas and water pipes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a major step in our-going testing of Very Light Rail and it\u2019s fantastic that we\u2019re going to be able to demonstrate this innovation and prove, right here in our city centre, that it works.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery Light Rail is just one part of our wider ambition to decarbonise transport, tackle climate change and improve air quality and everything we are doing to be the country\u2019s first Electric City.<\/p>\n
\u201cResidents will be able to ride the vehicle during the four-week trial and details about how to apply to experience the city\u2019s ground-breaking system will be published on the council website next year [which is actually this year as the press release came out just before Christmas!].<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to travelling on our vehicle on our track and in our city and would invite all residents to sign up to what is a stepping stone towards our journey to a greener, cleaner future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Coventry Very Light Rail will provide an alternative to the traditionally expensive process of bringing a light rail to a city. It will have no overhead wires and only requires a shallow track to be laid; the track can be laid without the need to move many of the service cables that are laid under roads. This will mean the construction will be cheaper than conventional modern tramways as well as being a quicker build phase \u2013 making it more affordable and less disruptive during construction.<\/p>\n
Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands and Chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority, said: \u201cConnecting our communities through an expanded tram network is a key part of my vision for a more affordable and accessible transport system. Very Light Rail has the potential to deliver that faster and at a fraction of the usual cost, putting our region at the forefront of innovation. This demonstrator track shows just how close we are to making this cutting-edge technology a reality for the West Midlands.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Coventry Very Light Rail project is currently funded via West Midlands Combined Authority and the Government through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first Coventry Very Light Rail vehicle looks set to operate in the city centre this year with plans to construct a 220 metre track along Greyfriars Road and Queen Victoria Road due to be approved by the Council\u2019s Cabinet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[74],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56867"}],"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=56867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56868,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56867\/revisions\/56868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.britishtramsonline.co.uk\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}