West Midlands Metro Tracklaying in Brum

[08221]

Fantastic to see the trams running through to the ICC.

 

They have completely changed the atmosphere in the city centre - hope there will be more line extensions to follow in the future just like what has happened in Manchester

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, JJGraphics said:

 

No OHLE in the city centre in the future. The battery-fitted trams are all about having no OHLE to avoid the visual clutter in the centre of a city, especially where there are older buildings of architectural interest. Quite a few cities in other parts of the world already do this for the same reason. There are also a number of cities with battery-fitted trolleybuses which run part of their route off-wire.

 

John

No overhead running from Grand Central to the ICC.

In Wolverhampton there will be battery operation on the (mostly completed) extension to the station, even though there are no architectural heritage issues

Short extensions off mainlines like this are likely to be battery operated to save the extra hassle & cost of OHLE.

It will be interesting to see whether the extension to Brierley hill will have OHLE through Dudley Town centre.

[wombatofludham]

I suspect that the route through Dudley may require OHL as the long climb up Castle Hill might be too much of a risk for battery output to be maintained throughout, unless a short section of OHL in the a town centre stop would be enough to provide an "opportunity charge" boost, rather like some of the electric buses have that are on trial elsewhere.

I have to say, as someone who joined Centro in 1990 mainly to work on planning for the Metro, and was involved in the tender process and specification for Line 1 it is nice to finally see some progress on extensions.  The fact that when I joined Centro had just got an Act of Parliament for the Brierley Hill route shows that unfortunately nearly two decades of dither by the PTE has put the Metro significantly behind other systems which have just got on with the job.  That said, the glacial progress has had a couple of minor wins, it has allowed a change of heart by Birmingham City Council about street running through the centre of the city, something they were vehemently against in the 1990s (hence the plan for the underground Metro in Birmingham) and it has allowed battery development to catch up which allows the tantalising opportunity for intermittent OHLE to save the cost of bridge works or expensive town centre utility works to accommodate overhead line, which should help reduce design and construction costs.

That and the fact the CAF trams actually look like the style we initially wanted in the tender documents but which we couldn't insist on due to the type of contract the Government of the day insisted we follow I think means the Metro is at last beginning to mature into the system ideally we wanted over 20 years ago.

[tractionman]

On 06/12/2019 at 09:24, 08221 said:

Fantastic to see the trams running through to the ICC.

 

They have completely changed the atmosphere in the city centre - hope there will be more line extensions to follow in the future just like what has happened in Manchester

 

Agree, what a difference the trams make to Broad Street / Centenary Sq, hardly recognise the Brum I knew when I was there in the late 80s and early 90s!

 

 

This was the view on Friday last week (Fri 13th)...

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

 

[Ramblin Rich]

Blimey! That's different! I spent a few late nights waiting there for buses heading towards Harborne - about 20 years ago

[melmerby]

 

The trams having been running a full service to the ICC/Library stop since last week.

I'll be posting a short video later, taken last Thursday by the Town Hall stop.

[melmerby]

A rather belated upload of the trams running by the Town Hall

More on the iCC stop to follow

https://youtu.be/TB8PC5paIFA

[melmerby]

Here is the second bit with running to and from the ICC:

 

[Robert Shrives]

Thank you for uploading, looking better each time I pass. I noted at Fiveways roundabout the tram block sleepers are now being stacked up ready so hopefully bu 2022 it will be open to Fiveways.  

 

I was noting on the 33 bus route to Kingstanding while going to Mikes Models how much of the route has big verges and central reservation - albeit with trees  I wonder how much planning has been done to see how easy to link all this latent provision in suburbia to the city centre.

 

Robert    

[Edwin_m]

24 minutes ago, Robert Shrives said:

I was noting on the 33 bus route to Kingstanding while going to Mikes Models how much of the route has big verges and central reservation - albeit with trees  I wonder how much planning has been done to see how easy to link all this latent provision in suburbia to the city centre. 

There was certainly a design worked up circa 2006 to extend from Five Ways down the Hagley Road to somewhere around Quinton.  

[melmerby]

Between the wars Birmingham laid out main new roads with provision for trams, some got them, some didn't.

Changes in policy was the cause, Birmingham decided to go for trolleybuses but another change of policy post war meant even though they were early adopters of trolleys they were also one of the first to abandon them for diesel buses.

[melmerby]

I always think it was a pity that apart from the Black Country, where it had the operating rights on certain local authority owned tracks, Birmingham City Transport couldn't normally extend past the City's boundaries.*

Shirley, Sutton & Solihull where obvious targets but BMMO had the transport rights outside the city boundary.

So for intance on the Stratford Road the tram terminus (and the later BCT bus terminus) were right on the boundary with Shirley centre virtually in sight. The Midland Red service was the only way to get there.

This sort of nonsense went when the new WM authority was formed in the 70s.

 

BTW the "New" tram system does something the old trams never did, it crosses the City Centre, with the original system there were no Cross City services and all terminated around the periphery.

 

*Edit there were one or two places where they had a limited crossing of boundaries.

The Rednal tram terminus with it's ballon loop was in Worcestershire (just)

Trolleybuses ran to the Rover factory in Lode Lane (Solihull)

 

 

Edited December 23, 2019 by melmerby

[Northroader]

I seem to remember trams going round the corner below when looking down off the roof of Lewis’s?

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Northroader said:

I seem to remember trams going round the corner below when looking down off the roof of Lewis’s?

They certainly ran down part of Corporation St. (From the erstwhile Martineau Street) and also there was a loop at Old Square but I don't know at what period they used either of the routes

 

4 hours ago, Edwin_m said:

There was certainly a design worked up circa 2006 to extend from Five Ways down the Hagley Road to somewhere around Quinton.  

The old Birmingham trams got to the King's Head, Bearwood crossroads from two directions, along the Hagley Road and via Cape Hill and Bearwood Road. The two routes did not connect!

[Edwin_m]

8 hours ago, melmerby said:

The old Birmingham trams got to the King's Head, Bearwood crossroads from two directions, along the Hagley Road and via Cape Hill and Bearwood Road. The two routes did not connect!

And looking on aerial photos the wide central reservation on Hagley Road only starts a mile or so further west at Galton Road, so presumably has never carried the trams it was probably intended for.  It's also been nabbed for extra traffic lanes at the major junctions - just where tram priority would be needed most.  

[melmerby]

Now the extension to the ICC is up and running here is one final photo to complete that bit:

 

Next we head up Broad Street to the Sheepcote Street Junction where I took a series of pictures today

 

Looking back towards the ICC:

 

 

And in the other direction:

 

 

Further up:

 

 

Further Still:

 

 

Just short of Five Ways Underpass:

 

 

Then at Five ways underpass there is some track:

 

 

A zoomed  shot:

 

 

Looking back from the other side:

 

 

You can just see the other end of track so far laid:

 

 

Looking from outside Morrisons:

 

 

The concrete trenches for the track through the underpass have been finished for some time and backfilled with spoil until the tracklaying itself is started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JJGraphics]

Very interesting, please keep them coming!

 

John

[martin_wynne]

Here's a slippy map showing the route under construction from Centenary Square to Five Ways (orange line):

 

 https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/477691478#map=17/52.47650/-1.91023

 

p.s. It's OpenStreetMap. That means if you see something wrong on the map, you can fix it yourself. To sign up and get started, go to: https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/new

 

Edited January 2, 2020 by martin_wynne
p.s. added

[melmerby]

3 minutes ago, martin_wynne said:

Here's a slippy map showing the route under construction from Centenary Square to Five Ways (orange line):

 

 https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/477691478#map=17/52.47650/-1.91023

 

 

There isn't much going on in Broad St. between the new stop at the ICC and Sheepcote St., just a few barriers and the odd bit of hole digging.

For those that are familiar with Brum, Broad St. from Five ways to Paradise is closed for through traffic, with just short sections open to allow traffic to cross from the streets on the south side to those on the north side and vice versa.

The way the tram tracks are positioned in the underpass it looks like there will be only one lane in each direction when it re-opens. (If ordinary traffic is allowed!)

[martin_wynne]

Hi Keith,

 

From your photos it seems the map is wrong, showing the tram track central between the roads under Five Ways.

 

Your photos appear to show 2 tram tracks on the north side, with road traffic on the south side, unless I'm missing something?

 

On the other hand the tram track is shown on the south side along Hagley Road? Is that both tracks, or one each side of Hagley Road? There is a lot more space for a tram stop on the south side of Hagley Road, so why use the north side in the underpass?

 

p.s. it's OpenStreetMap. If it's wrong we can fix it. To sign up and get started: https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/new

 

cheers,

 

Martin.

Edited January 2, 2020 by martin_wynne

[melmerby]

Hi Martin.

AFAIK there wll be separate tracks through the underpass. They have constructed two separate trenches, one through each of the halves of the underpass. I assume the second will be where the spoil filled trench is in my last but one picture.*

(In the picture showing the close up of the underpass and track you can see the route of the trench more clearly through the south side of the underpass)

The stop will be on the South side of Hagley Road outside No.54 (?) on a reserved section of track with road traffic passing to the north, so trams will need to cross conflicting traffic to head back to town.

Probable location is about here:

https://goo.gl/maps/hEFK8aoJBiqzDju38

I'm not sure how it will proceed up Broad St. as the current ICC/Centenary Square terminus is bang in the middle of the road with lanes for buses either side!

 

*Unfortunately the current Metro Alliance map is far from clear on the actual layout as it only shows a single line marking the route of the track

I can't now find the detail drawings that were originally posted online.

[melmerby]

Now the Christmas/New Year break is well gone the work in Broad Street has stepped up a notch and a lot of top surface has been removed in the sections previously untouched.

 

Looking from a few metres from where the current rails finish, outside the Hyatt Hotel, ICC on right:

 

Alongside the Soloman Cutler (Lloyds No. 1 Bar), ICC on right:

 

 

By the Jury's Inn, Free Radio Studio on right:

 

 

Looking back towards the Jury's Inn, Free Radio Studio on left:

 

 

Outside the Figure of Eight (Wetherspoons) on left:

 

 

Looking back, Figure of Eight on right:

 

[tractionman]

Thought this feature in the Birmingham Mail might be of interest

 

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/look-west-midlands-metro-tram-17817720.amp

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, tractionman said:

Thought this feature in the Birmingham Mail might be of interest

 

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/look-west-midlands-metro-tram-17817720.amp

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

I wonder how long ago they took the photo because one track was down in early January, when I visited the site.

[richard brown]

are there any updates to this please 

 

Richard