Disruption all day with no trams running from Wednesbury to Wolverhampton

There have been no services between Wednesbury Parkway and Wolverhampton St George's since the first tram was due to leave Wednesbury at 4.47am, with passengers having to take the train or bus instead.

West Midlands Metro is still yet to say when the issue is likely to be fixed but said in a reply on Twitter it was not likely to be resolved until Thursday.

Tickets and passes are being accepted on West Midlands Trains, Avanti Trains (previously Virgin) and the National Express number 79 bus.

Engineers are on site working to resolve the issue and trams are running between Wednesbury and Grand Central in Birmingham.

A West Midlands Metro spokesman was unable to confirm what has caused the damage, where the damaged lines are or when they are likely to be fixed.

“Engineers are working as quickly as possible to repair an overhead line fault between Wednesbury Parkway and Bradley lane," the spokesman said.

"Currently we are operating an eight to 10 minute service between Birmingham city centre and Wednesbury Parkway .

"For customers travelling to and from Wolverhampton, NX Bus 79, West Midlands Trains and Avanti Trains are accepting tram tickets.

“In the meantime, members of the Metro team have been posted to key locations to offer travel advice and up-to-date information can be found on our social media channels and tram stop information displays and we would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience this morning."

New stops open in Birmingham

Meanwhile new Birmingham city centre Metro tram stops have opened to passengers ahead of schedule.

West Midlands Metro trams are now picking up and dropping off passengers at the new Town Hall and Library stops after successful testing.

It is the first time in the UK that trams have used battery power to run along a modern line specifically built without overhead wires, preventing the need to attach cables to historic listed buildings such as Birmingham Town Hall and also reducing the line’s carbon footprint.

Laura Shoaf, managing director of Transport for West Midlands which commissioned the extension, said: "This tram extension is open in time for Christmas, but will serve the West Midlands for years to come. We said it would be open by the end of 2019, and here it is ready to go with three weeks to spare.

"We are offering people a convenient, fast and reliable service direct to some of Birmingham’s premier visitor attractions as well as the key office developments springing up around Centenary Square."

Preliminary works on an extension from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill, serving Dudley, are due to begin next year, while long-term work extending the line from Wolverhampton St George's to the railway station is ongoing.