Cyrille Regis tram to resume service after Wolverhampton crash
A tram which was involved in a crash where a woman had to be cut out of her car will be back up and running again next month, it has been announced.
West Midlands Metro's Tram 31, which is dedicated to local football legend Cyrille Regis, was seriously damaged when it was involved in a crash with a car in Wolverhampton during the morning rush hour.
The crash happened at Bilston Street Island on the city’s busy ring road in August and led to hours of delays for drivers as the scene was cleared and the tram recovered.
Firefighters had to cut the roof off the car to free the female driver inside, while the tram was left with major damage to is front end and side of the first carriage.
The car driver was taken to hospital with an arm injury and whiplash but was not thought to have been seriously hurt, while four people from the tram - including the driver - were treated and discharged at the scene.
Tram 31 was one of those intended for use on the Centenary Square extension due to open to the public next year, though Transport for West Midlands was doubtful that it would be fully repaired in time for the grand opening.
However, speaking this week at a West Midlands Combined Authority transport delivery committee, officer Chris Howarth said that officials were now optimistic about getting the tram back on the network in time for next month.
He added that the news now means that alternatives to Tram 31 do not need to be found.
Mr Howarth said: “There was an update that was given in the report, and that was about Tram 31.
“Tram 31 is one of the operational trams that has already been retrofitted, and it was involved in a road traffic incident back in August.
"The report says that we didn’t think it would be prepared for Centenary Square.
“However, having had some extensive investigation work done we now believe that the damage is not as bad as we first thought, and it will be available for passenger service to Centenary Square. So some positive news.”
