Light Rail Link Between Dudley and Sandwell Knocked On The Head

[RS]

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2016/05/16/light-rail-link-hopes-linking-sandwell-and-dudley-are-dashed/

[Roy]

Typical of the Express & Star.  Once again, they publish something that was common knowledge at least six months ago.

[tc]

Funding announced for a feasibility study into a Black Country Living Museum - Dudley Zoo Light Rail link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rail-tourism-winners-announced

[Bryan]

Funding announced for a feasibility study into a Black Country Living Museum - Dudley Zoo Light Rail link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/rail-tourism-winners-announced

Good news for the company being paid for the feasibility study, but I will bet my life on the fact that nothing will come of it.

[woody38]

Thats what I do not understand they pay huge sums of money to extend the metro, moving the buses out what people did not want, but something like this that would have been used gets scrapped, Crazy. Years ago they had a station at Dudley town

[Roy]

Let's consider the facts.  The Dudley VLR scheme was promoted by Dudley Council for both lines from Dudley station to Dudley Port Low Level station to be used - one line for testing and the other for non-stop passenger services.  Therefore, you have to ask who would have used this service.  Anybody getting off a train at Dudley Port faces a walk through the car park and down stairs to reach the low level platform.  Those going to Dudley Town Centre (and the rest of Dudley borough) would have been faced with a walk up Castle Hill.  Therefore, it would be just as convenient to walk to the main road and catch a 74, which at least connects with all other bus services at the Bus Station.  It would have been used by visitors to the Zoo and Black Country Museum, but how many passengers would be visiting those on a cold Tuesday in January.

The problem with the VLR as originally proposed is that it would have taken up the trackbed between Dudley and Dudley Port, thus preventing the building of the Metro from Brierley Hill to Wednesbury when funds became available.  It also precluded the reopening of services from Stourbridge Junction to Walsall.  As it turned out, the formation of the West Midlands Combined Authority and the agreement to have an elected mayor meant that funds were released by the Government last year to build the Metro line for opening in 2022, three years after the proposed opening of the VLR line.  Thus, the VLR had to be moved as the Metro line will offer people in Brierley Hill and Dudley through trams to Birmingham and Wolverhampton.  It was last June when a meeting was told that this would happen and shortly afterwards it was confirmed that the VLR would use the section of the line not required for the Metro - i.e. from Dudley station through the tunnel to Cinder Bank.  What is surprising is that it took the Express & Star nearly a year to publish the story.  Personally, I think that they could have relocated the VLR within Dudley borough to Moor Street in Brierley Hill and used the branch to Pensnett Trading Estate as their test track.  However, it is hoped that successful trials of VLR on the test track will lead to tram-train operation from Stourbridge to Walsall alongside the Metro in the longer term (probably 2030s or 40s).

[karl724223]

All the tracks and sleepers been took up on pensnett trading estate word has it big housing estate including the old brick yard