Wolverhampton (for Wolverhampton Bus Station) Pipers Row Wolverhampton St George's The Royal Priestfield Zones 3 & 4 boundary The Crescent Bilston Central Loxdale Bradley Lane Wolverhampton Sandwell boundary Wednesbury Parkway Wednesbury Depot Wednesbury Great Western Street (under construction) Great Bridge Black Lake Zones 2 & 3 boundary Horseley Road Dudley Street Guns Village Dudley Port Dartmouth Street Sedgley Road Lodge Road West Bromwich Town Hall Birmingham New Road West Bromwich Central boundary Sandwell Dudley Trinity Way Tipton Road Kenrick Park Dudley Castle The Hawthorns Dudley Town Centre ( Dudley Bus Station) Sandwell Birmingham boundary Flood Street Handsworth Booth Street Cinder Bank Winson Green Outer Circle Pedmore Road Soho Benson Road Waterfront Jewellery Quarter Zones 1 & 2 boundary Merry Hill St Paul's Brierley Hill St Chads Birmingham Snow Hill Bull Street (under construction) Corporation Street Albert Street (for Birmingham Moor Street) Grand Central ( Birmingham New Street) Millennium Point Town Hall Birmingham Curzon Street Library Meriden Street Brindleyplace Digbeth High Street ( Birmingham Coach Station) Five Ways Edgbaston Village

The West Midlands Metro is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. The network has 33 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 the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via the towns of Bilston, West Bromwich and Wednesbury, on a mixture of former railway lines and urban on-street running. 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. 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 by 2025. An additional branch line running to Birmingham's Eastside via Curzon Street – the region's planned High Speed 2 terminus – and terminating at Digbeth is also under construction as of 2024. There are also proposals to expand this branch further towards Chelmsley Wood (Solihull) and out to Birmingham Airport.

Birmingham once had an extensive tram network 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.

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.

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.

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 (equivalent to £352,080,000 in 2023) 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 0.5 km 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.

Some 25 years later, 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.

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. From September 2023 trams terminate at Wolverhampton station instead although the original terminus remains open.

The original proposal was to run into the former Wolverhampton Low 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.

There are 33 tram stops in use on the route.

Mondays to Saturdays, services run at ten-minute intervals during the day. Sunday day service is twelve-minute intervals and all Evening service is at fifteen-minute intervals. Trams take roughly 55 minutes to complete the route.

West Midlands Metro operates 42 trams, with more on option. In summary:

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Length metres	Capacity			In service	Orders	Fleet numbers	Routes operated	Built	Years operated
			mph	km/h		Std	Sdg	Total
CAF Urbos 3		Tram	43	70	33	54	156	210	21	—	17–37	All	2012–2015	2014–present
									21	—	38-58	All	2021–2023	2021–Present
Total									42

In February 2012, Centro announced that it was planning a £44.2 million replacement of the entire existing T-69 tram fleet. CAF was named preferred bidder for 19 to 25 Urbos 3 trams. A£40 million order for 20 was signed, with options for five more. The new fleet provided an increased service of ten trams per hour in each direction, with an increased capacity of 210 passengers per tram (compared to 156 passengers on the T69 trams).

The first four new trams entered service on 5 September 2014; all of the T-69s had been replaced by August 2015.

In October 2019, WMCA awarded CAF a contract to supply an additional 21 Urbos 3 trams worth £83.5 million for the expanding network, with the option to purchase a further 29. The contract includes technical support and battery management services over 30 years.

Cracks were found in a couple of the new trams during routine inspection in June 2021 leading to all services being briefly suspended. Services were suspended again in November 2021 for four weeks as further inspections had discovered that more significant permanent repairs were required.

The service was suspended again on 20 March 2022 for replacement of body panels and recommenced on 9 June 2022.

West Midlands Metro has previously operated the following trams:

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Length metres	Capacity			Number	Fleet numbers	Routes operated	Built	Years operated
			mph	km/h		Std	Sdg	Total
AnsaldoBreda T-69		Tram	43.5	70	24.36	56	100	156	16	01–16	Line 1	1996–1999	1999–2015

The T-69s were built in Italy by AnsaldoBreda (now Hitachi Rail Italy), and were used only on the Midland Metro (as it was called then). After withdrawal, all 16 were transferred to the tram test centre at Long Marston.

The West Midlands Metro is a standard-gauge double-track tramway. Trams are driven manually under a mix of line-of-sight and signals. Turnback crossovers along the line, including in the street section, have point indicators.

On the trackbed section Birmingham to Priestfield, signals are at Black Lake level crossing, Wednesbury Parkway, and Metro Centre. The street section has signals at every set of traffic lights, tied into the road signals to allow tram priority.

The tram stops are unstaffed raised platforms with two open-fronted cantilever shelters equipped with seats, a 'live' digital display of services, closed-circuit television, and an intercom linked to Metro Centre.

Some of the line is electrified at 750 V DC using overhead lines, and that system was renewed in 2010/11, requiring short-term closures. The current trams have batteries, and charge at specially adapted tram stops, eliminating the need for visible power infrastructure within certain city sections.

The Metro Centre control room, stabling point and depot is near Wednesbury Great Western Street tram stop, on land once used as railway sidings.

In January 2023, construction began to expand the depot.

Unlike many other tram and train networks in the UK, West Midlands Metro does not offer ticket machines or ticket offices at tram stops although machines were provided when the system opened. They were later replaced by conductors. Single, return, and all-day tickets are sold by the on-tram conductors. Tickets valid for 1, 4, or 52 weeks are sold from seven "Travel Shops" located around the West Midlands, though only four are in locations served by the Metro.

Up until 2018 single, return, and day tickets could only be purchased with cash or Swift cards, but Contactless payment cards are now accepted.

As well as the above, West Midlands Metro accepts a range of interavailable Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) tickets such as nbus+Metro and nNetwork, which can be bought on buses and at railway stations, as well as on the trams.

Cash fares were distance-related. The scale was originally intended to be broadly comparable with buses, but this caused the system to run at a significant loss and fares rose. In January 2013, the adult single fare from Birmingham to Wolverhampton was £2 by bus and £3.60 by tram, although the tram journey is much quicker even when the bus routes are congestion-free. By 2016 the tram fare had risen to £4. In November 2013, Birmingham City Council indicated plans to introduce a smart-card system (similar to Transport for London's Oyster card) to improve access, alongside a range of measures including a new Tube-style map and electric bus networks. This has now launched and is called the Swift card.

In March 2022, the fare system was amended again, with the graduated fares replaced by four zones:

• Zone 1 – Edgbaston Village to Jewellery Quarter (Birmingham City Centre)
• Zone 2 – Jewellery Quarter to Black Lake
• Zone 3 – Black Lake to Priestfield
• Zone 4 – Priestfield to Wolverhampton station (Wolverhampton City Centre)

Fares are now charged on a per-zone basis, with fares payable for travel in Zone 1 slightly higher than Zones 2-4 (this applies to single zone, two zone and three zone fares). The stops at Jewellery Quarter, Black Lake and Priestfield are "boundary stations", meaning they sit in both zones.

When the Midland Metro system opened in 1999, it was originally operated by Altram, a joint venture of the infrastructure company John Laing, the engineering firm Ansaldo, and the transport group National Express. During 2006, Ansaldo and Laing officially withdrew from the venture after financial difficulties, and day-to-day operation was taken over by the remaining partner, National Express, who ran the system as National Express Midland Metro.

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). Operation of Midland Metro was taken over by Midland Metro Ltd, a company wholly owned by WMCA, and the system was rebranded West Midlands Metro. WMCA subsequently set up a consortium of various engineering and consultancy firms, the Midland Metro Alliance, to design and construct future network extensions.

The current operator, Midland Metro, has produced accounts from 1 October 2017. Between 1999 and 2003, Altram had operated Midland Metro unsuccessfully on a for-profit basis. However, operating revenue did not cover costs, and in February 2003, auditors refused to sign off Midland Metro's accounts as a going concern. From 2006, under sole National Express control, losses were largely covered by cross-subsidy from other parts of the National Express group, but the figures were not shown separately in their published accounts.

Passenger revenue and passenger numbers are published by the Department for Transport.

The key available trends in recent years for West Midlands Metro are (years ending 31 March):

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Turnover (£M)										8.3	12.8	7.6
Operating profit (£M)										−0.002	0.013	0.037
Profit for the financial year (£M)										-	−0.002	−0.014
Passenger revenue (£M)	6.5	7.0	7.4	7.8	7.9	7.7	8.6	10.3	9.8	10.7	11.3	5.8
Number of employees (average)										181	219	218
Number of passengers (M)	4.7	4.8	4.9	4.8	4.7	4.4	4.8	6.2	5.7	8.3	8.0	3.4
Number of trams (at year end)	16	16	16	16	16	16	21	21	21	21	21	21
Notes/sources
^ From Midland Metro Ltd's Statement of Accounts ^ From Midland Metro Ltd's Statement of Accounts ^ From Midland Metro Ltd's Statement of Accounts ^ As defined in the DfT Light Rail and Tram Survey (Table LRT0301a) ^ From Midland Metro Ltd's Statement of Accounts ^ Passenger journeys, as defined in the DfT Light Rail and Tram Survey (Table LRT0101) ^ 2019: Figures for 18 months ^ 2021: Activities and income in fiscal 2021 were severely reduced by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic

Detailed passenger journeys since the system commenced operations on 30 May 1999 were:

Estimated passenger journeys made on West Midlands Metro by financial year (to 31 March)
Year	Passenger journeys		Year	Passenger journeys		Year	Passenger journeys		Year	Passenger journeys
1999–00	4.8M		2007–08	4.8M		2015–16	4.8M		2023–24	8.3M
2000–01	5.4M		2008–09	4.7M		2016–17	6.2M
2001–02	4.8M		2009–10	4.7M		2017–18	5.7M
2002–03	4.9M		2010–11	4.8M		2018–19	8.3M
2003–04	5.1M		2011–12	4.9M		2019–20	8.0M
2004–05	5.0M		2012–13	4.8M		2020–21	3.4M
2005–06	5.1M		2013–14	4.7M		2021–22	4.7M
2006–07	4.9M		2014–15	4.4M		2022–23	5.4M
Estimates from the Department for Transport

Usage on the initial line averaged about five million passenger journeys annually, but numbers remained static for many years. This was not seen as successful, as 14 to 20 million passengers per year had been projected.

Numerous reasons were suggested for the underperformance, including: that the line has lacked visibility, being confined to Snow Hill station at the edge of Birmingham city centre; that there are quicker trains running between Birmingham and Wolverhampton; that the line did not serve New Street station or any of Birmingham's major visitor attractions (except for the Jewellery Quarter, already well-served by suburban trains). Nonetheless, overcrowding sometimes occurred on trams at peak hours.

Passenger numbers increased sharply following the opening of the extension into Birmingham city centre in June 2016, with figures for 2016/17 exceeding six million for the first time.

The original Midland Metro branding consisted of a blue, green and red livery on tram vehicles with yellow doors. Upon the change to National Express operation in 2006, Midland Metro was rebranded with Network West Midlands livery, then a sub-brand of the transport authority Centro, and trams were painted in a magenta and silver livery with blue doors.

Since 2017, West Midlands Metro has adopted shared branding with other transport modes consisting of a common hexagonal logo formed from the letters WM. This common brand has been introduced in order to create a common identity for an integrated transport system for the region. Each mode bears a coloured variant of the logo: blue for trams, red for buses, orange for trains, magenta for roads, purple for taxis and green for cycling and walking initiatives. The primary typeface is LL Circular by Lineto.

The Midland Metro Alliance was set up in 2017 by WMCA as a long-term framework agreement with transport contractors Colas Rail, Barhale, Thomas Vale, Auctus Management Group, Egis Rail, Tony Gee and Pell Frischman to design and construct future extensions of the West Midlands Metro system.

Continuing on from the original route (Line 1), two extensions in three phases have since been opened in Birmingham:

• The Birmingham City Centre extension was completed in 2015 and opened in 2016, roughly coinciding with the opening of a renovated Birmingham New Street station. This moved the Birmingham terminus (and primary interchange) from Snow Hill to New Street, located on Stephenson Street and called Grand Central.
• The Birmingham Westside extension was constructed in two phases. Phase 1, which extended the line from New Street to Birmingham Library, opened in 2019. Phase 2, which extended the line from the Library to Edgbaston Village near Five Ways, opened in 2022.

The Birmingham Eastside extension is currently under construction. This new branch line, diverging between Bull Street and Corporation Street tram stops, is expected to open with a temporary terminus at Moor Street Queensway in 2025 or 2026 until track can be laid on the site of HS2's Curzon Street terminus. Work on the extension has been completed on the other side of the site, continuing to Digbeth.

The Wolverhampton city centre extension was completed in September 2023. The same opening date was given for a new line from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill through Dudley Town Centre; this is scheduled to open in 2024.