Transport Insights

The Express and Star reports that:

The Midlands Metro tramline will open for passengers in Dudley at the end of August – more than two years late.

At a meeting of Dudley Council’s Communities and Growth Scrutiny Committee, council leaders faced questions on what help was available for traders affected by the delayed works.

The Metro had been earmarked for a 2024 opening and later for a launch in the autumn of 2025. It was later announced the opening would be delayed until the start of this year.

The extension to Dudley is the first phase of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension, which is being built by the Midland Metro Alliance (MMA) on behalf of Transport for West Midlands (TfWM).

Last October MMA said:

Work on the first phase of the route, between Wednesbury and Dudley town centre, is nearing completion ahead of opening next year

TfWM has now confirmed in a statement to journalist Peter Plisner:

A recent review of the project has raised a number of further challenges which have contributed to a revised opening date for the Metro services between Wednesbury and Dudley.

It added that various structural works had “taken longer than expected” and that it is “looking to start testing and commissioning next month”.

In shock news, it said it would only open the extension “when we can guarantee a safe and reliable tram service for customers”.

Last year I reported that transport secretary Heidi Alexander falsely claimed that she was in the region

to put spades in the ground on the extension of the West Midlands Metro tram network in the Black Country

In fact, both phases were already underway, including work on Parkhead Viaduct, which is part of the second phase and was already “nearing completion”.

People in the area must wish Alexander had not put her “spades in the ground”. God only knows how much underground infrastructure she damaged.