Metro service suspended ‘until further notice’ from 13th November 2021

Yesterday (12th November), West Midlands Metro announced that their tram service would be ‘suspended until further notice’ following the discovery of a further ‘fault’ following the suspension of the service for several days earlier this year.

Earlier this year West Midlands Metro discovered cracks on our trams, which resulted in a temporary interruption to services for inspections and repairs.

Temporary repairs were carried out to return our fleet to service as soon as possible but inspections have found that more extensive and permanent repairs are now required. To ensure the future safety of our customers and colleagues, we have made the decision to suspend all services from 13 November 2021 to carry out these repairs.

We are continuing to work alongside the tram manufacturer to understand the issues and carry out the repairs as quickly as possible. At this time we are unable to confirm when services will resume but we expect it will take at least four weeks.

We have taken this difficult decision to ensure services can continue to run safely and reliably in the future.

We apologise sincerely for the inconvenience this will cause and we are working with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) to ensure measures are in place so that our customers are still able to travel safely and reliably around the region on public transport. Further information will be provided on TfWM website.

We will keep customers fully updated via our website and social media channels.

“Metro services are suspended from Saturday 13 November until further notice” – West Midlands Metro website

This weekend (13th and 14th November) The Green Bus are providing a limited-stop tram replacement service between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, while this weekend and next, NX West Midlands will be providing additional journeys on service 79 between Wednesbury and Wolverhampton.

Metro tickets/passes will be accepted on NX West Midlands 16, 74, 79 and 101 services, as well as on train services between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton, and Birmingham Snow Hill and The Hawthorns.

Further details on travel options for Metro passengers can be found on the TfWM Disruptions page.

Interestingly, this fault with CAF trams doesn’t appear to be exclusive to the West Midlands:

It all seems to be turning into a debacle, certainly at the Birmingham end of this route – not only have we had months of disruption due to the extension to Five Ways being built, as well as the ‘remedial works’ to dig up and re-lay track bed along Corporation Street that was barely five years old.

Millions of pounds have been pumped into this scheme, yet the service has never turned a profit throughout its history.

Loading

About WMBU

Stu is the founder of this West Midlands Bus Users website.
He is not a bus enthusiast, but as a regular passenger takes an interest in public transport related matters, having relied on buses to get around for over twenty-five years now.

View all posts by WMBU →