Officials indicate that trams are on track and they will be running through Birmingham City Centre in the autumn, reports Asian Lite, popular UK paper among British Asians.
Midlands Metro Trams are likely to lead to the creation of 1,500 city centre jobs and benefit the regional economy by £50 million a year.
Testing runs on the new Midlands Metro extension between Snow Hill and New Street is due to begin around the end of October, or early November. Construction work on the tracks between Snow Hill and New Street is on time, with full passenger service up and running by end of year point out Centro officials.
And this means that the £127 million project will be fully operational as planned say the Transport Authority Centro which is overseeing the development. Centro said that with the track laying now well underway they expect it to be ready to start testing the trams in October and gradually introduce the passenger service after that.
Centro spokesman Mark Langford said, “Testing will involve running trams along the entire route to New Street Station initially overnight and then increasingly during the day. “The building works currently underway remain on schedule for us to launch the service by the end of the year.”
The extension will deliver an estimated 3.5 million passengers from the Black Country and West Birmingham into the heart of Birmingham’s shopping district – along Corporation Street. The Metro’s unveiling will follow that of New Street Station and the Grand Central Shopping Centre which are due to open in September.
The route will further increase as the Metro is plannd to go the Centenary Square and along Broad Street over the next five years, while an eventual extension into Wolverhampton city centre is also planned. A further Birmingham Line to deliver trams to proposed High Speed 2 station at Curzon Street before heading out through Digbeth and on to the International Airport and NEC is also being planned.