National Express Midland Metro operated the

Midland Metro The West Midlands Metro (originally named Midland Metro) is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. Opened on 30 May 1999, it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmi ...

tram system between

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

and

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

in England from May 1999 until June 2018. It was a subsidiary of

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

, who also owned the local bus company

National Express West Midlands National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is a bus operator in the West Midlands that operates services in Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and Solihull, as well as limited routes outside of the general area of Birmingham, s ...

. The National Express Midland Metro brand name and logo were not carried on trams and on most publicity, just 'The Metro' branding with the exception of printed timetables.

History

The Midland Metro was built and operated by the Altram consortium owned by Ansaldo, John Laing and

opening on 30 May 2005. In March 2006 National Express bought out its consortium partners. Midland Metro was specified and financed by the

West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) was the public body responsible for public transport in the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom from 1969 until 2016. The organisation operated under the name Centro f ...

. The operating company was previously named Travel Midland Metro in keeping with National Express' previous naming structure for subsidiary companies. National Express operated the concession until 23 June 2018, when it was taken over by

Transport for West Midlands Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services in the West Midlands metropolitan county in England. It is an executive body of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), with bus franch ...

Fleet

The original fleet consisted of 16 AnsaldoBreda T-69 trams. These were replaced by 21 CAF Urbos 3s in 2014/15. Originally trams were intended to carry an off-white with yellow, blue and green stripes livery, but instead carried a purple, yellow, red, green and grey livery. This was replaced by a pink and silver livery in 2007."Damaged Metro tram returns in pink" ''

Rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

'' issue 570 18 July 2007 page 63

References

External links

Midland Metro Official siteNetwork West Midlands Metro Page
{{NEXG West Midlands Metro National Express companies Transport companies established in 1999 Transport companies disestablished in 2018 Transport in Birmingham, West Midlands Transport in Wolverhampton 1999 establishments in England 2018 disestablishments in England