Late-night closures set for West Midlands Metro route due to overhead line work
More disruption is set to hit West Midlands Metro services this month, with late-night services impacted by the upgrade of overhead lines.
For several days during August and September, trams will not run all the way through to Birmingham city centre after 10pm.
A spokesperson for West Midlands Metro said: "As part of the ongoing programme to upgrade existing infrastructure, we are entering the final phase of the current planned work to upgrade the overhead lines.
"Whilst the majority of this work was successfully undertaken while services were suspended earlier this year, there will be changes to service in the coming weeks to allow this work to be completed."
There will be no services between Wednesbury Parkway and Birmingham city centre after 10pm from Sunday, August 21 until Wednesday, August 24. Late night services on these days will only operate between Wolverhampton St George’s and Wednesbury Parkway, but full services will resume on the following mornings.
There will then be no services after 10pm between Black Lake and Birmingham city centre from Sunday, August 28 until Thursday, September 1.
The same restrictions apply after 10pm from Sunday 4 to Wednesday, September 7 and Sunday 11 to Thursday, September 15.
On these days, trams will operate between Wolverhampton St George’s and Black Lake only after 10pm.
During this time, Metro tickets and passes will be accepted on the following National Express bus services:
79 between Wednesbury and West Bromwich
74 between West Bromwich and Birmingham
All services between Colmore Road, Broad Street and Edgbaston
This is only the latest set-back for West Midlands Metro services, which suffered three major closures in nine months due to cracks in the bodywork of the trams, which West Midlands Mayor Andy Street called "inexcusable".
The route extensions have also been the subject of scrutiny, with the 700-metre extension from Wolverhampton St George's to Wolverhampton Railway Station yet to open - despite being originally scheduled for 2019.
After pandemic delays, transport bosses pledged the Wolverhampton extension would be complete before the start of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, but this deadline was also missed.
An 11km extension from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill was also planned for 2022, but has now been pushed back to 2024.
