National Express Midland Metro

National Express Midland Metro operated the Midland Metro tram system between Birmingham and Wolverhampton in England from May 1999 until June 2018. It was a subsidiary of National Express, who also owned the local bus company National Express West Midlands. The National Express Midland Metro brand name and logo were not carried on trams and on most publicity, just 'The Metro' branding with the exception of printed timetables.

National Express Midland Metro
AnsaldoBreda T-69 tram at Trinity Way in February 2006
ParentNational Express
Founded30 May 1999
Ceased operation23 June 2018
HeadquartersWednesbury
LocaleBirmingham
Sandwell
Wolverhampton
Service areaWest Midlands
Service typeTram
Fleet21 CAF Urbos 3
Daily ridership14,000
WebsiteExpress Midland Metro

History

The Midland Metro was built and operated by the Altram consortium owned by Ansaldo, John Laing and National Express opening on 30 May 2005.[1][2] In March 2006 National Express bought out its consortium partners.[3][4] Midland Metro was specified and financed by the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive. The operating company was previously named Travel Midland Metro in keeping with National Express' previous naming structure for subsidiary companies.

National Express operated the concession until 23 June 2018, when it was taken over by Transport for West Midlands.[5][6][7]

Fleet

The original fleet consisted of 16 AnsaldoBreda T-69 trams. These were replaced by 21 CAF Urbos 3s in 2014/15.[8] Originally trams were intended to carry an off-white with yellow, blue and green stripes livery,[9] but instead carried a purple, yellow, red, green and grey livery. This was replaced by a pink and silver livery in 2007.[10]

References
  1. Midland Metro opened at last Railway Gazette International July 1999
  2. "Midland Metro opens officially" The Railway Magazine issue 1180 August 2005 page 10
  3. Anticipated acquisition by West Midlands Travel Limited of the joint venture shares of Laing Infrastructure Holdings Limited and Ansaldo Transporti Sistemi Ferrovari SpA in Altram LRT Limited Office of Fair Trading 5 April 2006
  4. Midland Metro Railway Technology
  5. TfWM to take over running of Midland Metro next year Rail Technology Magazine 22 March 2017
  6. TfWM to operate Midland Metro from October 2018 Global Mass Transit 23 March 2017
  7. Midland Metro to be run by new publicly-owned operating company Bus & Coach Professional 24 March 2017
  8. Midland Metro unveils first CAF tram Railway Gazette International 16 October 2013
  9. "New Midland Metro tramway system". www.lrta.org. Archived from the original on 9 December 2000.
  10. "Damaged Metro tram returns in pink" Rail issue 570 18 July 2007 page 63

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