The Midland Metro Alliance (MMA) will start clearing vegetation later this week along the proposed route of an extension of Birmingham’s light rail network from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill.
The 11km route will reinstate part of the disused South Staffordshire Line.
Overgrown sections of the route will be cleared over the next couple of weeks to allow structural and environmental surveys to be completed.
Construction of the route is expected to start in 2019 and it is due to open to passengers in 2023. It is one of several extensions of the network either already underway or at the design stage.
Councillor Roger Lawrence, lead member for transport for the West Midlands Combined Authority, said: “Whilst this is not the formal start of work on the extension it is the first step towards it.
“There is a lot of work still to be done but once it is complete the Black Country and wider region will reap the economic rewards of having an extended modern tram system running through it.”
Photo: Chris Jenner / Shutterstock, Inc.
