Services have returned to the Midland Metro following a two-week closure for major infrastructure work.
Every platform along the route from Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton has been narrowed by approximately 100mm to accommodate a £40 million fleet of new and bigger trams.
The work is part of a £128 million project to extend and modernise the tram system.
Paul Griffiths, Centro’s Metro programme director, said: “This is a major step forward for this project and paves the way for the arrival of the new, bigger trams which passengers will start seeing on tracks next year.
“The extension will bring major economic benefits to our region as well as increasing capacity for passengers and we are now ready to take the next steps in this project.”
The work means both the old and new trams will be able to operate along the route.
The 20-strong fleet of new trams will start to go into service on the current route during 2014 and will enable Centro to increase the system’s frequency to 10 trams an hour throughout the day.
All the new trams along the route, which is operated by National Express West Midlands, will be running by 2015 when an extension of the system through the streets of Birmingham city centre from Snow Hill Station to a rebuilt New Street station opens.
