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West Midlands Metro

The West Midlands' tram line: 35 stops and about 15 miles of route from Wolverhampton through Bilston, Wednesbury and West Bromwich to Birmingham city centre and Edgbaston, most of it on the old Great Western main line out of Birmingham Snow Hill. It opened in 1999 between Wolverhampton St George's and Snow Hill, and has since been extended through Birmingham's streets (2015 to 2022, with the first stretch of modern British tramway built without overhead wires), to Wolverhampton station (2023) and towards Digbeth (2026). A branch from Wednesbury to Dudley, the Black Country Line, is being tested.

1999Opened
14.9 miles (24 km)Route
35Stops
9.0 millionJourneys a year, DfT (2025–26)

Facts

Opened
30 May 1999
Termini
Wolverhampton (St George's and the railway station) – Edgbaston Village
Type
light rail: a former railway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, with street running at both ends; 750 V DC overhead, and batteries where there are no wires
Depots
Wednesbury
Operating company
Midland Metro Ltd, a company wholly owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), whose transport arm, Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), owns the network; run in house since 24 June 2018, when it took over from National Express's Travel Midland Metro

unverified Some of these figures haven’t yet been checked against an official source or a published history. What’s in doubt ↓

CAF Urbos (West Midlands Metro) · CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles), Spain
5 sections, 108 ft (33.0 m)

Route 35 stops

Wolverhampton St George's – Edgbaston Village 33
Wolverhampton St George's – Edgbaston Village: schematic, not to scale Wolverhampton St George'sWolverhampton St George's The RoyalThe Royal PriestfieldPriestfield The CrescentThe Crescent Bilston CentralBilston Central LoxdaleLoxdale Bradley LaneBradley Lane Wednesbury ParkwayWednesbury Parkway Wednesbury Great Western StreetWednesbury Great Western Street Black LakeBlack Lake Dudley Street Guns VillageDudley Street Guns Village Dartmouth StreetDartmouth Street Lodge Road West Bromwich Town HallLodge Road West Bromwich Town Hall West Bromwich CentralWest Bromwich Central Trinity WayTrinity Way Kenrick ParkKenrick Park The Hawthorns — change for National RailThe Hawthorns Handsworth Booth StreetHandsworth Booth Street Winson Green Outer CircleWinson Green Outer Circle Soho Benson RoadSoho Benson Road Jewellery Quarter — change for National RailJewellery Quarter St Paul'sSt Paul's St ChadsSt Chads Bull Street — change for National RailBull Street Albert StreetAlbert Street Millennium PointMillennium Point Albert StreetAlbert Street Corporation StreetCorporation Street Grand Central — change for National RailGrand Central Town HallTown Hall LibraryLibrary BrindleyplaceBrindleyplace Five WaysFive Ways Edgbaston Village — change for National RailEdgbaston Village
Wolverhampton Station – Edgbaston Village 32
Wolverhampton Station – Edgbaston Village: schematic, not to scale Wolverhampton Station — change for National RailWolverhampton Station Pipers RowPipers Row The RoyalThe Royal PriestfieldPriestfield The CrescentThe Crescent Bilston CentralBilston Central LoxdaleLoxdale Bradley LaneBradley Lane Wednesbury ParkwayWednesbury Parkway Wednesbury Great Western StreetWednesbury Great Western Street Black LakeBlack Lake Dudley Street Guns VillageDudley Street Guns Village Dartmouth StreetDartmouth Street Lodge Road West Bromwich Town HallLodge Road West Bromwich Town Hall West Bromwich CentralWest Bromwich Central Trinity WayTrinity Way Kenrick ParkKenrick Park The Hawthorns — change for National RailThe Hawthorns Handsworth Booth StreetHandsworth Booth Street Winson Green Outer CircleWinson Green Outer Circle Soho Benson RoadSoho Benson Road Jewellery Quarter — change for National RailJewellery Quarter St Paul'sSt Paul's St ChadsSt Chads Bull Street — change for National RailBull Street Corporation StreetCorporation Street Grand Central — change for National RailGrand Central Town HallTown Hall LibraryLibrary BrindleyplaceBrindleyplace Five WaysFive Ways Edgbaston Village — change for National RailEdgbaston Village

Schematic, not to scale. Ringed stops are interchanges. One strip for each of the two routes the trams run from April 2026, each written from Wolverhampton. They share every stop from The Royal to Edgbaston Village. Trams from Wolverhampton St George's towards Edgbaston Village turn off at Bull Street for Albert Street and Millennium Point, then come back through Albert Street to Corporation Street; trams the other way run straight from Corporation Street to Bull Street, and trams to and from Wolverhampton Station don't serve Albert Street or Millennium Point. Ringed stops are those the operator's map marks for changing to National Rail (for Edgbaston Village, Five Ways station). The trams lower their pantographs and run on batteries through Birmingham city centre from Grand Central nearly to Edgbaston Village, and beyond Albert Street to Millennium Point. Not shown: the Black Country Line from Wednesbury to Dudley (Flood Street), being tested, which TfWM says opens in autumn 2026, and the rest of the line to Digbeth, being built. Stop order from the operator's route map (see Sources).

StopInterchanges
Wolverhampton St George's
The Royal
Priestfield
The Crescent
Bilston Central
Loxdale
Bradley Lane
Wednesbury Parkway
Wednesbury Great Western Street
Black Lake
Dudley Street Guns Village
Dartmouth Street
Lodge Road West Bromwich Town Hall
West Bromwich Central
Trinity Way
Kenrick Park
The HawthornsNational Rail
Handsworth Booth Street
Winson Green Outer Circle
Soho Benson Road
Jewellery QuarterNational Rail
St Paul's
St Chads
Bull StreetNational Rail
Albert Street
Millennium Point
Corporation Street
Grand CentralNational Rail
Town Hall
Library
Brindleyplace
Five Ways
Edgbaston VillageNational Rail
Wolverhampton StationNational Rail
Pipers Row

Stops from the operator’s published routes, entered by hand (see Sources).

Rolling stock

Earlier trains on this line

History 22

  1. The West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority (later Centro) proposes a network of light rail routes across the West Midlands.
  2. The first route is agreed, mostly on the formation of the Great Western line from Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton, which had last seen passenger trains in 1972.
  3. Construction formally begins, by the Altram consortium of John Laing, the tram builder Ansaldo and National Express, whose Travel Midland Metro is to run the line.
  4. Midland Metro Line One opens between Birmingham Snow Hill and Wolverhampton St George's, 20 km with 23 stops, run with 16 Italian-built T-69 trams. The official opening is followed by a free public service; fares are taken from 31 May.
  5. The first of 21 CAF Urbos 3 trams, built in Zaragoza from 2013, enter service, replacing the T-69s.
  6. The last trams run into the original terminus inside Snow Hill station, which closes so the line can be joined to the new city-centre extension; for six weeks trams terminate at St Paul's.
  7. Trams return to Birmingham's streets: the first stage of the city-centre extension opens from a new junction short of Snow Hill to Bull Street. A new stop on the way, first called Snow Hill and now St Chads, opens later.
  8. The extension reaches Grand Central, outside Birmingham New Street station, by Corporation Street.
  9. The West Midlands Combined Authority decides to run the Metro itself, through a new company, Midland Metro Ltd, when National Express's contract ends, rather than tender it again.
  10. The first Urbos 3 fitted with batteries, for lines to be built without overhead wires, enters service; the rest of the fleet is fitted over the next two years.
  11. Midland Metro Ltd, owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority, takes over from National Express's Travel Midland Metro, and Midland Metro becomes West Midlands Metro.
  12. The first stage of the Westside extension opens, from Grand Central to Library in Centenary Square by way of Town Hall: the first modern tramway in Britain built without overhead wires, so the trams lower their pantographs at Grand Central and run on batteries.
  13. Preparatory work begins on the 11 km line from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill by way of Dudley, mostly on a railway formation closed to freight in 1993.
  14. The whole tram service stops while the Urbos 3s are inspected, after CAF finds cracks in the underframe at the ends of at least one; trams run again from 15 June.
  15. Services stop again when more cracks are found, until enough trams have had a permanent repair to run between Wolverhampton St George's and Bull Street.
  16. The service is suspended for a third time, after cracks are found in the Urbos 3s' bodyside panels around the doors; every one of the 21 needs new panels.
  17. Trams run again for the first time since 19 March, between Wolverhampton St George's and Bull Street, mostly the newer Urbos 100s.
  18. The Westside extension's second stage opens from Library along Broad Street and through the Five Ways underpass to Edgbaston Village, with stops at Brindleyplace and Five Ways, and trams return to Grand Central and Library.
  19. A branch opens from the line short of Wolverhampton St George's along Pipers Row, by the bus station, to Wolverhampton railway station, three years late.
  20. The government funds the second phase of the line to Dudley, £261 million from Flood Street to the Merry Hill shopping centre; work starts in January 2025.
  21. The first stage of the Eastside extension opens from a junction at Bull Street to Albert Street and a temporary terminus at Millennium Point, the trams running on batteries beyond Albert Street. Wolverhampton St George's is now served all day, every day.
  22. In testing, a tram runs the whole first phase of the Black Country Line, from Tipton Junction at Wednesbury to Flood Street in Dudley, for the first time. In September TfWM still says only that it will open in autumn 2026.

Sources 21

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Show the 21 sources from British Trams Online, Midland Metro Alliance, Department for Transport and 6 more
unverified
  • Route length: the DfT's 24.0 km (14.9 miles) at 31 March 2026, before Albert Street and Millennium Point opened (about 0.4 km more: "thought to be less than 0.5 miles", British Trams Online)
  • The service pattern from 5 April 2026 (British Trams Online, from the operator's announcement), still in place in July 2026 (British Trams Online's notice of engineering works); that trams call at Albert Street both on the way to Millennium Point and on the way back is inferred from its island platform, not read in a timetable
  • Edgbaston Village's National Rail ring: Kyle's map marks it for changing to local rail; the nearest station is Five Ways, a walk away
  • Batteries: Grand Central to Library is built without wires (British Trams Online, Midland Metro Alliance, 2019), Library to Edgbaston Village mostly so, with wires approaching the terminus (British Trams Online, 2022), and beyond Albert Street to Millennium Point (British Trams Online, 2026). The Wolverhampton Station branch was planned without wires, but British Trams Online's photographs of February 2023 show wires along Pipers Row; how much of it is wire-free isn't confirmed, so the page doesn't say
  • The crack-related suspensions of 2021 and 2022: dates from British Trams Online only
  • The Black Country Line: not open on 12 October 2026; TfWM says autumn 2026, and Dudley Council's leader has said 1 November 2026 (British Trams Online, September 2026)
  • The network colour: sampled from Kyle's 2026 map as rendered, not a published value

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