West Midlands Metro

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 14.9 miles (24.0 km) 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.