Posted 20th October 2010 | 7 Comments

Midland celebrations as Metro extension goes ahead

THE news that the Birmingham city centre extension of Midland Metro is to go ahead has been greeted as ‘fantastic news’ by the chief executive of Centro.

The Chancellor has told MPs that the scheme is to continue following the Public Spending Review.

The £127.1 million joint project by Centro, Black Country and Birmingham City councils is expected to boost the West Midlands economy by £50 million a year and create up to 1,300 sustainable new jobs, according to Centro.

When completed, it will allow trams from Wolverhampton to continue from their present terminus at Birmingham Snow Hill station and run via Corporation Street to New Street station.

Centro chief executive Geoff Inskip said: “This is fantastic news for Birmingham and the Black Country as it puts us on the way towards creating a truly world class public transport system for the West Midlands.

“This Metro extension is exactly what the Government wants to see from transport schemes, underpinning regeneration, boosting the economy and creating jobs.

“We intend to waste no time in pressing ahead with this exciting scheme so we can unlock those jobs and economic benefits as soon as possible. We plan to have the project completed to coincide with the opening of the New Street Gateway project at the end of 2014.” 

Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

  • Alex McKenna, London

    Now and then I have to get from New Street to Brierley Hill..... but what a performance, especially on a Sunday. There's not even a direct bus. The sooner the tram goes out in that direction the better.

  • Mark Ovenden, Paris, France

    Centro can learn a lot about how GMPTE overcame the restrictions and back-peddling on lightrail of the last government and begin extending MidlandMetro to the size it needs to be to serve the conurbation properly and get people out of their cars.

    Given the population in each metropolitan area - around 2.5m for each - Manchester and Birmingham BOTH deserve MUCH better \"turn-up-an-go\" rapid transit rail-based services. If either of these conglomerations were on mainland Europe they would have trams AND some underground metro services for sure

    Compare with: Lyon (1.7m, 4 underground lines, 3 tram lines), Stuttgart (2.7m U-bahn and tram), Frankfurt (2.5m U-bahn and tram), Naples (2.2m Underground and tram), Cologne (1.8m U-bahn and tram), Valencia (1.5m - underground metro and tram),

    Britain has let urban transit slip off the agenda (except in London) while almost every other provincial city in Europe (and US) has been allowed to invest in decent/practical/energy efficient/less-polluting rapid transit.

    We have a long way to go but the Midland Metro news is great and much more is obviously needed.

  • Paul Harris, Halesowen, Worcestershire

    As the Second City, with a population only topped by London, (and 3 times as big as Manchester!) Birmingham desperately needs this investment to move forward - now let's get the rest of the extensions built, to Merry Hill, down the Hagley Road and out to Dudley.

  • Lorentz, London

    Manchester, as Britain's second city, has been successful in getting funding for its projects because it has done an excellent job of constructing the case for the improvements.
    The biggest returns on investment will come from improving the transport infrastructure in Manchester, and the capacity improvements planned as part of Manchester Hub project. Why waste meagre funds on Birmingham?

  • H McCormick, Solihull

    Its only good news if Geoff Inskip isn't put in charge of the Metro extension as he is currently presiding over the debacle of the Snow Hill second entrance which is now coming up to 4 years late opening!

  • tony hill, Birmingham, england

    It's about time!...I cannot understand why other cities like manchester and Sheffield have been forging ahead with their tram systems(manchester especially!!!)...This is while Birmingham is named as the most gridlocked city in the country!...Obviously the anti-Birmingham lobby in Westminster and beyond have never experienced travelling around THE SECOND CITY'S roads throughout the day,not just in the rush hour.This is a welcome boost but,it's nowhere near enough....And while I'm on my soap box...The concrete monstrosity that is New St station and that waste of space "the pallasades"should have been razed to the ground and a "new New St" fit to bear the name of Birmingham's main railway station should have been built.

  • John Gilbert, Cradley, Herefordshire, England

    The news that the extension of the Wolverhampton - Birmingham tramway into Birmingham city centre is to proceed is indeed terrific news. In views of this news it seems churlish to grumble - but I will nonetheless! What about the original plan to run through the centre to Fiveways? Yes, let's get the first extension to New Street built but then push, push, push for the extra mile to Fiveways. If it was needed when first announced it is not needed any LESS now!