Midland Metro’s planned two-kilometre (1.24-mile) extension to Edgbaston and Birmingham’s Westside areas has been given the go-ahead.
Department for Transport will provide £59.8 million towards the £149m total cost. A further £84m has been raised locally through the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), Birmingham City Council, Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, and others.
Five new stops will be served by up to ten trams an hour at peak-time when the new line opens in March 2021. It will run from Grand Central outside Birmingham New Street.
On a visit to Birmingham, Rail Minister Paul Maynard said: “This new extension will be a further boost to Birmingham businesses, and make travelling to work easier for commuters."
- More information including details of the stops will appear in RAIL 835, published on September 13.
Noam Bleicher - 04/09/2017 09:39
Two years per kilometre. In the meantime the Estonians started a tram line to Tallinn Airport last year, and it's finished already. Maybe some time has been allowed to blast through the granite, or for archaeological digs of the World Heritage Site along the Hagley Road?