TfWM’s £6.1bn Investment in Transport
Transport for West
Midlands (TfWM) has announced that it is investing a total of £6.1 billion to expand
Metro, bus, rail, cycling and walking networks across the West Midlands. This includes plans for the next five rapid
transit routes – to deliver new turn-up-and-go Metro or Sprint rapid bus
services – as outlined in the map.
The announcement states that the next two rapid transit routes will be along Hagley Road in Birmingham and an extension of the East Birmingham line from Digbeth to Birmingham International, with work possibly starting in 2028. After that, the plan is to extend the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro line to Stourbridge in the south and to Walsall in the north.
SLUG is pleased that the line between Stourbridge Junction and Brierley Hill has been identified as a planned rapid transit route but feels that to prioritise an extension of the Metro along Hagley Road in Birmingham over the line from Stourbridge to Brierley Hill is a mistake. The corridor already has a fine public transport network with 24 buses per hour heading west along the Hagley Road from the Edgbaston Village Metro stop. We believe that it is the Stourbridge to Brierley Hill corridor that should see work starting in 2028. Construction work on phase 2 of the line from Dudley to Brierley Hill starts in 2025 so the line hopefully should be open by 2028.
The full announcement from Midland Metro Alliance may be read from the link below.