The Urbos 3 fleet is the second generation of light rail rolling stock built for the West Midlands Metro from Wolverhampton to Birmingham, replacing the earlier T-69 fleet [1].
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| Tram 31 on Corporation Street |
| Information | |
|---|---|
| Number built: | 42 |
| Built: | 2012-15, 2021-23 |
| Builder: | CAF |
| Motor: | 12 traction motors (750v DC OHLE) |
| Power: | 1, 320 hp (960 kW) |
The Urbos is a successful type of modern tram built by CAF, used in dozens of light rail systems across the world though the West Midlands Metro fleet is the only Urbos 3 stock used in England (the type is also used in Edinburgh).
The trams were introduced for the extension of the West Midlands Metro from Birmingham Snow Hill to Birmingham New Street railway station. They are slightly wider than the T-69s they replaced (about seventeen centimetres) thus the line had to be closed for a few weeks to allow for platform modifications before the Urbos 3 could enter service.
The trams are also nine metres longer and can carry up to 210 passengers per tram compared to 156 on the T-69 (though the actual number of seats is almost the same). All of the trams were given the pink and white livery of the Midlands Metro as it was originally known though all now carry the blue livery of the re-branded West Midlands Metro.
CAF have developed rechargable batteries for fitting to the fleet to allow them to operate on extensions to the metro where there are no overhead wires [2] such as around Birmingham town hall. Twenty one more trams were built in the early 2020s to strengthen the fleet as the West Midlands Metro expands.
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| Tram 38 (the first in the second batch) arrives at Loxdale |
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| The original livery carried by the trams |
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| Tram 48 at Edgbaston Village, the current terminus of Line 1 |
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| Look Ma no wires! A tram passes Birmingham Town Hall on battery power |
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| Tram 51 heads towards West Bromwich |
[1] Colin J Marsden, Rail Guide 2016 (Ian Allan, 2016) p. 280
[2] Colin J Marsden (ed.), Light Rail (Key Publishing, 2018) p. 63