Wolverhampton Metro extension gets go-ahead

[Ginger66]

Was planned for 4th July, that is no longer happening.

Why are the deadlines always missed on this extension and even when you ask the metro it self they say we don't have a date for opening.

So what is left to do to before opening can happen as the way things are going we will be heading into late 2023 or even late 2024.

[Jack D]

So opening week is here? Will it be happening

[Dom]

So opening week is here? Will it be happening

Literally two posts ago I said it wasn't happening. Driver training hasn't started yet.

[Ginger66]

Literally two posts ago I said it wasn't happening. Driver training hasn't started yet.

It will be interesting to see when training starts on the new road section.

[Rachvince53]

It will be interesting to see when training starts on the new road section.

And how long before one breaks down there!

[Stu]

Opening "still weeks away"

The £50 million Metro link from St George's down Pipers Row to Railway Plaza was meant to be completed in 2020 but has been beset by budget rises and delays. But bosses at Midland Metro Alliance now say that signalling works are due to be finished by early August. 

Resurfacing work will then have to be carried out over five days along Pipers Row, before the track is handed over for drivers to familiarise themselves with the route. Services to Wolverhampton railway station will then begin, but the delays mean it will be well into the school summer holidays before the extension may open.

Midland Metro Alliance previously said the final stages of testing and commissioning are a "complex process", but council bosses warned the delays were undermining plans to make Wolverhampton a 'destination city'. 

A Midland Metro Alliance spokesperson said: "Testing and commissioning of a new tramway is a complex process and is completed to ensure that all assets and systems are installed and configured correctly.

"In the most recent testing phase it became apparent that an element of recently installed signal infrastructure for the new route needed to be reconfigured. 

"This is a specialist undertaking and is currently scheduled to be completed by early August. 

"Following this, some outstanding resurfacing activities will be completed over a period of five days along Pipers Row. It is expected that the route will be handed over to the operator shortly after for driver familiarisation ahead of services beginning to Wolverhampton railway station.

https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/wolverhampton/2023/07/14/long-awaited-opening-of-wolverhampton-metro-extension-still-weeks-away/

A cost of £50 million for a 720 metre line of track that has taken several years to build. I think they overuse the words 'complex' and 'complexities' to cover up incompetence.

[Ginger66]

Four months on since testing and commissioning started and there is no news when the extension opens to the public.

What is the delay now .

[Westy]

Four months on since testing and commissioning started and there is no news when the extension opens to the public.

What is the delay now .

As @ellspurs pointed out in the bus Diversions thread, it seems to be a competition between this & Junction 10, for being dragged out!

[LiamsTransport1]

Four months on since testing and commissioning started and there is no news when the extension opens to the public.

What is the delay now .

The recent delay was supposedly down to signalling issues. Still no date for opening.

[Rachvince53]

The recent delay was supposedly down to signalling issues. Still no date for opening.

Workers were digging between the tracks outside the Co-op at the railway station yesterday morning. 

[Stuharris 6360]

" but the delays mean it will be well into the school summer holidays before the extension may open. "

Which school holidays are they and more importantly which year!!

[4311]

Pipers row closed for resurfacing between 14th and 18th so might be getting close to being open

[Ginger66]

Didn't the express and star report testing began in April yet nearly now five months on the line still not open.

[Stu]

Can't be too far off now...

https://twitter.com/TransportForWM/status/1695453558441693443

[Stevo]

The website says that once training is completed the service will be to the station branch only and not serve St Georges for a short time while alterations are made so that trams can serve both St Georges and the station.  Presumably this won't be on the same journey but alternate journeys. Does that mean that there'll be a tram to the station and to St Georges only every 20 minutes?