Midland Metro’s original tram fleet is up for sale

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Three of the 15 Ansaldo T69 trams that are up for sale. Photo: Transport for West Midlands.
Three of the 15 Ansaldo T69 trams that are up for sale. Photo: Transport for West Midlands.
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Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is set to auction the Midland Metro’s original fleet of light rail vehicles.

Following the introduction of CAF’s Urbos 3 trams in 2014, the AnsaldoBreda T69 trams, which were only ever used on the tram network, were mothballed.

The T69s were in service between 1998 and 2015 and have been stored in a depot at Long Marston ever since.

TfWM, which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority, will be selling the fleet of 15 trams – which is owned by a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland – in an online auction on January 29, 2018.

TfWM said that bidders must be registered companies and not consumers and added that there is no reserve on the trams.

Visits to the storage facility can be arranged by appointment only and each will be “sold as seen”.

West Midland Combined Authority’s transport lead councillor Roger Lawrence said: “They’ve got more than a few thousand miles on the clock but in their time the T69 trams were excellent servants for the Midland Metro.

“They are mostly still serviceable so the auction is a good chance for someone to get themselves a bargain.”

The 25m-long T69s have a capacity for up to 156 passengers and a top speed of 70km/h.


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