Wednesbury to Brierley Hill: work starts next year

[DJ]

Car park next to Dudley bus station now fenced off with notices about metro work starting on that site
Also work on flood st car parks well underway
Woodside track and ballast now down

Looks like they're making some progress up at Wednesbury Great Western St too, the orange army was out in full force when I passed through a couple of days ago.

I haven't seen much going on at Dudley Port when I've passed through recently, other than the trackbed being cleared a while ago.

[Roy]

The work at Woodside seems to be the movement of the freight line headshunt across to one side to provide space for the Metro line.  The line has been relayed and ballasted up to the buffer stop just to the west of Pedmore Road bridge.

[karl724223]

Work starting on the old car park next to Dudley bus station
Work well under way on flood street car parks

[Roy]

Work on Castle Hill in Dudley transfers to the other side of the road from Monday.  

[Roy]

There will be diversions over the Summer holidays in the New Road and Sedgley Road West areas to enable new bridges to be installed.
https://metroalliance.co.uk/summer-of-progress-for-black-country-metro-route-across-sandwell-and-dudley/

[Roy]

According to minutes of the last WMCA Transport Delivery Committee meeting, work on the new Dudley Bus Station will not start until September 2023 at the earliest with completion not expected until September 2024 at the earliest.  

[Westy]

Slightly off topic, but is there anyone here that remembers the previous Dudley Bus Station, which I think was based on the buses parking around the outside of a large waste ground / grassed area.

The current one was a massive improvement.

Where was the old Travelshop/enquiry office in the pre early 80's version?

[busfan2847]

Yes I do.

It was not really a purpose built bus station, but a collection of street bus stops. There were stops up the hill on both sides of Birmingham St from Fisher St to King St and down Potters Field back to Fisher St. The are in between was a large grassed area. There were also stops on Fisher St from Castle St to Potters Field. The bus parking area was on east side of Birmingham St (now east end of current bus station). Birmingham St ran straight through from King St to Castle Hill. I seem to remember the travel shop being in one of the shops on Birdcage Walk?

[Stevo]

Great fun, though. Many buses started up a steep hill and the 58 / 558 to Wolverhampton didn't even use the bus station, terminating at the Town Hall. It was best under WMPTE after the Midland Red takeover, with all manner of strange buses turning up.

[Ginger66]

Was the Dudley bus depot/garage next/adjacent to the bus station 

[Tony]

Was the Dudley bus depot/garage next/adjacent to the bus station

No, it was where Castle Gate Roundabout is now

[DJ]

No, it was where Castle Gate Roundabout is now

Yep, there is a map showing the location on MidlandRed.net. Castle Gate was originally a junction of Tipton Road and Birmingham Road, before the island and the bypass were constructed.

[Roy]

West Midlands Combined Authority have today delivered a body blow to people living west of Dudley.  Here is part of the statement.

The Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro extension forms part of our plan to regenerate public transport in the Black Country, providing much-needed links to the existing heavy and light rail networks, and helping to connect people to education, training and career opportunities further afield in the West Midlands.

The extension will also play its part in helping to regenerate both Sandwell and Dudley, making them more attractive to investors and providing easy access to the region's many and varied attractions by fast and frequent public transport.

Construction for this route commenced in 2020, and more recently, since the start of 2022, the Metro extension has seen significant progress between Wednesbury and Dudley town centre.

The West Midlands Combined Authority Board has recently reaffirmed its commitment to the whole scheme, with a further commitment from officials that the first phase will be ready to open as planned with trams serving Dudley town centre in 2024.

Since the scheme was approved there have been a number of pressures on the funding of the project in particular increases in operating costs of the Metro, reduced revenues and construction cost increases. As a result, we have had to adapt the project. We will deliver the first phase to Dudley town centre as a first phase and will continue to seek funding solutions for the second phase to Brierley Hill.

The West Midlands Combined Authority and partners will continue to actively seek funding and develop additional funding mechanisms to allow the construction of this second phase at the earliest opportunity.

We continue to work with our partners at Midland Metro Alliance to deliver the new route at pace so that users can enjoy the benefits of the scheme as soon as possible.

[mikestone]

Do you have a link please?

[Roy]

Do you have a link please?

It's part of an email sent out by Midland Metro Alliance to stakeholders.