THE WEST Midlands Metro extension linking Bull Street with Digbeth will not be completed in time for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, it has been announced. Whilst the 1.7km line was originally scheduled for completion in November 2022, it had been hoped that work could be brought forward to enable services to begin running in time for the major sporting event that summer. Delays in the planning process, which involves a connection into the existing Line 1 at Bull Street, may even mean that the original target date may also be missed.
With an estimated budget of £152.2 million, this short section of the planned line to Solihull and Birmingham Airport via the NEC will serve four new stops at Albert Street, New Canal Street (for the new HS2 station), Meriden Street and High Street Deritend (the site of Birmingham coach station).
During questions at a meeting of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Transport Delivery Committee, project director for Midland Metro Phil Hewitt was asked about the possibility of the line being open in time for the Commonwealth Games. He explained that the start date for construction depended on the granting of powers for work to start by the Government and that as this had not yet happened there was ‘almost no chance’ of the original opening date being advanced, with ‘very little chance’ of the November 2022 target being met.
He added that the original timeline was predicated on powers having been granted in June 2018 and that funding would be in place. Mr Hewitt told the committee: ‘The powers have not been awarded, and even if a decision was made tomorrow the powers would not be confirmed until the end of March, which is a nine-month delay’. The news follows reports in July 2018 that the routes to Solihull and Brierley Hill are forecast to be ‘tens of millions of pounds’ over budget, with the WMCA investment board being told by Director of Finance Sean Pearce that the projects were showing ‘cost pressures’. Last July the budget for the Solihull route stood at £675 million, whilst costs were expected to reach £735 million, and the Brierley Hill extension from Wednesbury (budgeted at £310 million) was forecast to cost over £340 million.
