Regular West Midlands Metro services to return by month end

Regular tram services in the West Midlands are set to resume by the end of the month.

A phased return of services has been ongoing between Birmingham and Wolverhampton after cracks were discovered on vehicles.

West Midlands Metro said repair work had been "progressing well" with services to Grand Central and the library set to resume from 30 January.

It said engineers had worked "round the clock" to fix the problems.

However, it also warned a return to regular service was dependant on tram availability.

"A service between Wolverhampton and Bull Street has been maintained over the last month and this was achieved with a mix of fully repaired trams from the existing fleet and some new vehicles we were able to fast track into service," West Midlands Metro added.

"Engineers from both West Midlands Metro and the tram manufacturer have been working round the clock to ensure the new repairs are robust and that once a full service resumes it will be safe, reliable and sustainable."

The total suspension of services came after temporary repairs had to be carried out in June as well as unrelated track replacement works which meant services stopped running between Birmingham Library and Bull Street.

The 21-vehicle fleet had to be removed from the network after a "mechanical problem" was identified relating to weakness in the metal on each tram.

Eight million journeys were made on the network in 2019-20, according to figures from the Department for Transport.

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