Black Lake Tunnel is a 412-yard
railway tunnel on the
West Bromwich and
Wednesbury border, in
England.
Past
The tunnel was built by the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
for trains travelling between
Snow Hill station in
Birmingham and
Low Level station in
Wolverhampton, and was one of two tunnels on that route, the other being
Hockley Tunnel.
The next stops after the Black Lake tunnel northbound was Wednesbury and Southbound was Swan Village, West Bromwich Central.
It fell out of use with the closure of the line in March 1972.
Present
In 1999, the line to Wolverhampton was re-opened as a
light-rail (tram) line, the
Midland Metro, with the addition of overhead electrification. There are tram stops at either end of the pair of tunnels
The Metro side of the tunnel is illuminated, to enable tram drivers to see the track ahead. The next stop northbound is
Wednesbury Great Western Street tram stop
Wednesbury Great Western Street is a tram stop in Wednesbury, Sandwell, England. It was opened on 31 May 1999 and is situated on Midland Metro Line 1. The stop is next to the Midland Metro tram depot.
The stop and depot are on the site of the o ...
, this used to be GWR Wednesbury Central Station. Southbound is
Black Lake tram stop.
Location
The tunnel runs under open ground, and New Street, near its junction with the appropriately named Tunnel Road.
Coordinates
{, class="wikitable"
!Point
!Coordinates
, -
, North portal
,
, -
, Approx. midpoint
,
, -
, South portal
, {{coord, 52.53564, -2.01371, name=South portal
Railway tunnels in England
Great Western Railway
Rail transport in the West Midlands (county)
Tunnels in the West Midlands (county)