The West Midlands Metro is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. The network has 35 stops with a total of of track; it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between two termini in the city of Birmingham and two in the city of Wolverhampton via the towns of Bilston, Wednesbury and West Bromwich, on a mixture of former railway lines and urban on-street running. A second line is set to open in late 2026, operating between Wednesbury and Dudley. The system is owned by the public body Transport for West Midlands, and operated by Midland Metro Limited, a company wholly owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority.
During August 1995, a 25-year contract for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of Line 1 was awarded to the Altram consortium; construction commenced three months later. It was launched on 30 May 1999 as Midland Metro, partly using the disused Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Low Level Line. During 2006, Ansaldo and John Laing Group both withdrew from the consortium, thus day-to-day operation of the Metro was taken over by the remaining partner, National Express. In October 2018, the National Express concession ended and the system was taken over by Transport for West Midlands, the transport arm of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).
The line originally terminated at Birmingham Snow Hill station at the edge of the city centre, but following an extension opened in December 2015 it now serves the central core of Birmingham, including the principal regional mainline station, Birmingham New Street. Following further extensions the line has terminated at Edgbaston Village since 2022, with a second, temporary, terminus at Millennium Point opened in April 2026, on the yet-to-be completed line to Digbeth. At the other end of the line, an extension to Wolverhampton station was opened on 17 September 2023. The Metro was originally operated by a fleet of 16 AnsaldoBreda T-69 trams; these were replaced during the 2010s by a newer fleet of 42 CAF Urbos 3.
Construction of a new branch line from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill was approved in March 2019, started in February 2020 and was intended to be completed for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, but has been severely delayed; it is currently scheduled to be completed at least to Dudley in 2026. An additional branch line running to Birmingham's Eastside via Curzon Street – the region's under-construction High Speed 2 terminus – and terminating at Digbeth is also under construction as of 2026. There are also proposals to expand this branch further towards Chelmsley Wood (Solihull) and out to Birmingham Airport.
History
Birmingham once had an extensive tram network—eventually using double-deck vehicles—run by Birmingham Corporation Tramways. However, as in most British cities, the network was wound down and closed by the local authority, with the last tram running in 1953.
1984 proposals Proposals for a light-rail or Metro system in Birmingham and the Black Country had been put forward as early as the 1950s and 1960s, paradoxically at a time when some of the region's lines and services were beginning to be cut back. Serious inquiry into the possibility started in 1981, when the West Midlands County Council and the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive formed a joint planning committee to look at light rail as a means of solving the conurbation's congestion problems. In summer 1984 they produced a report, "Rapid Transit for the West Midlands", which set out ambitious proposals for a £500 million network of ten light-rail routes that would be predominantly street-running, but would include some underground sections in Birmingham city centre. One of the proposed routes would have used part of the existing line as far as West Bromwich.
The scheme suffered from several drawbacks, one being that three of the proposed routes, from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield, Shirley, and Dorridge, would take over existing railways, and would have included the conversion into a tramway of the Cross-City Line between Aston and Blake Street, ending direct rail services to Lichfield. The northern section of the North Warwickshire Line was also to be converted as far as Shirley station, leaving a question mark over existing train services to Stratford-upon-Avon. Tram tracks would also run alongside the existing line to Solihull and Dorridge, and local train services would have ended.
The most serious drawback, however, which proved fatal to the scheme, was that the first proposed route of the network, between Five Ways and Castle Bromwich via the city centre, would have involved the demolition of 238 properties. This invoked strong opposition from local residents. The scheme was spearheaded by Wednesfield Labour councillor Phil Bateman, but was eventually abandoned in late 1985 in the face of public opposition to demolishing hundreds of houses, and the Transport Executive was unable to find a member of parliament willing to sponsor an enabling Bill.
1988 proposals
Following the abolition of the West Midlands County Council and establishment of a new Passenger Transport Authority in 1986, a new light-rail scheme under the name "Midland Metro" was revived with a different set of lines. The first of up to 15 lines was intended to be operating by the end of 1993, and a network of 200 kilometres was planned to be in use by 2000.
In February 1988, it was announced that the first route, Line 1, would be between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, using much of the mothballed trackbed of the former Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Low Level Line, a route not included in the 1984 recommended network, partly as at that stage the section between Wednesbury and Bilston was still in use, not closing until 1992. The Wednesbury to Birmingham section had closed back in 1972, and the section between Bilston and Wolverhampton was last used in 1983.
A Bill to give West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive powers to build the line was deposited in Parliament in November 1988, and became an Act of Parliament a year later, with completion expected by the mid-1990s.
A three-line network was initially planned, and powers were also obtained to build two further routes. Firstly an extension of Line 1 through the city centre to Five Ways, then a second line, Midland Metro Line 2, running to Chelmsley Wood, and then Birmingham Airport. A third line, Line 3 was also proposed, running from Line 1 at Wolverhampton to Walsall, using much of the disused trackbed of the Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway, and then, using the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill trackbed of the South Staffordshire Line (which would close in 1993), running southwards to Dudley intersecting with Line 1 along the route. This would provide a direct link with the new Merry Hill Shopping Centre, which was built between 1984 and 1989.
Construction of Line 1 During August 1995, a 25-year contract for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of Line 1 was awarded to the Altram consortium; construction commenced three months later. The estimated construction cost in 1995 was £145 million () of which loans and grants from central government accounted for £80M, the European Regional Development Fund contributed £31M, while the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority provided £17.1M and Altram contributed £11.4M.
By May 1997, construction work was reportedly 50 per cent complete and track-laying had been progressing at per week. However, the targeted completion date of August 1998 was missed by ten months, leading to compensation being paid by Altram. The original part of Line 1, Birmingham to Wolverhampton, was opened on 30 May 1999.
Eastside extension
On the 5 April 2026, an extension to Millennium point was opened with the new stations being Albert Street and Millennium Point. Between those two stops, trams run on battery power, as the overhead wiring ends at Albert Street.
Further development
More than 25 years after the system opened, Line 2 and Line 3 have not been built. In 1997, Centro accepted that they were unable to get funding for the proposed lines, and therefore adopted a strategy of expanding the system in "bite-sized chunks", with the city-centre extension of Line 1 as the first priority. The intention was that the first decade of the 21st century would see the completion of the first of these projects.
Work on the Birmingham Metro tram extension began in June 2012, launched by transport minister Norman Baker. The dig was begun at the junction of Corporation Street and Bull Street, with work to move water pipes and power cables. On 6 December 2015, trams entered service on the extension to Bull Street. The remainder of Line 1 was opened in stages, with completion through to Edgbaston Village in July 2022. The section of line between the Library and Edgbaston is unwired, with trams taking power from onboard batteries.
Current network Route
For nearly two decades, Line 1 between Birmingham to Wolverhampton was the solitary operating section of the Midland Metro. It runs mostly along the trackbed of the former Great Western Railway line between the two cities which was closed in phases between 1972 and 1992. The line originally terminated at Birmingham Snow Hill station, using one of the former rail platforms. Between 2015 and 2016 the line was extended across Birmingham city centre as far as Grand Central. From December 2019, trams terminated at Library tram stop next to the Library of Birmingham, and in July 2022 the line was further extended to Edgbaston Village.
From Grand Central, which allows interchange with the National Rail network at Birmingham New Street station, West Midlands Metro then runs on streets through the city centre to Birmingham Snow Hill station. From there, the line runs north-west, and for the first few miles it runs alongside the Birmingham to Worcester railway line, before the two diverge. Two stations on this stretch (Jewellery Quarter and The Hawthorns) are also tram/railway interchange stations.
At the northern end of the route trams leave the railway trackbed at Priestfield to run along Bilston Road to Wolverhampton St George's. Between September 2023 and September 2025, trams terminated solely at Wolverhampton station. As of 29th September 2025, trams now alternate between Wolverhampton St. George's and Wolverhampton Station.
The original proposal was to run into the former Wolverhampton Low Level railway station but this was abandoned as the terminus would be too remote from the city centre. A loop around the city centre was also planned but this has not been implemented.
Stops
There are 35 tram stops in use on the route, with only the former terminus at Birmingham Snow Hill no longer in use.
Frequencies Services run on two routes: Between Wolverhampton Station and Edgbaston (direct) Between Wolverhampton St George's and Edgbaston (via a reversal at Millennium Point in the Edgbaston direction, direct in the Wolverhampton direction) Each route runs every 15 minutes during the day (Monday-Saturday), every 20 minutes on Sundays, and every 30 minutes during late evenings. Both routes combine to provide most of the network with a higher frequency service. Trams take roughly 55 minutes to complete the direct route and 65 on the route via Millennium Point.
Rolling stock
Current fleet West Midlands Metro operates 42 trams, with more on option. In summary:
ClassImageType Top speed Lengthmetres Capacity InserviceOrdersFleetnumbersRoutesoperatedBuiltYearsoperated mph km/h StdSdgTotalCAF Urbos 3 Tram4371335415621021—17–37All2012–20152014–present21—38-58All2021–20232021–PresentTotal42