Midland Metro rolling stock

The Midland Metro is a passenger light rail line in the West Midlands conurbation in England, which opened in 1999. Its rolling stock includes sixteen T69 tramcars, and a small number of maintenance vehicles. A new fleet of Urbos 3 trams will come into service in 2014/15.

T69
The T69 trams, used only on the Midland Metro, were built by the Italian company AnsaldoBreda. Their closest "brothers" are the SL95 running in Oslo, Norway. The vehicles are articulated, resting on three bogies, and have low floors over about 60% of the length. At 24.36 metres long, the T69s are the shortest modern tramcars in Britain. Each tram has 56 seats, with space for another 100 standing. The central section of the trams is low floor, with inwards facing seats at the sides, while at each end is a raised seating area, accessible by steps. Each tram has three 1.25-metre wide entrances on each side, with twin plug doors.

16 trams entered service altogether. At delivery, all trams had a livery of a blue body, red fronts, grey skirt and yellow doors, but several have been refurbished and repainted in Network West Midlands silver and magenta livery.

Most trams are named for local celebrities or people of note.

Tram 01 and 02 are both out of service. Tram 04 has received the "Sir Frank Whittle" nameplate from 01.

Tram 05, rebuilt following a collision with a fire engine in May 2007, re-entered service during late February 2009.

Tram 07 was used for spares and repairs for other trams for over eight years. After a major overhaul, it returned to service, and was named "Billy Wright" after the footballer, following a public vote.

Trams 09 and 10 had a major collision near to Soho Benson Street in December 2006. Unit 09 was rebuilt out of the undamaged parts of the two trams, re-entering service during 2007. Tram 10, rebuilt from the damaged sections, re-entered service during late 2008.

Tram 11 has been painted in a special blue and cream livery representing the Birmingham Corporation Tramways colours carried by the historic trams in Birmingham. It was unveiled in its new livery in August 2013.

Urbos 3
All T69s are to be replaced by a new fleet of CAF Urbos 3 trams, which are expected to come into service in 2014. In February 2012 Centro named CAF the preferred bidder for a contract to supply 19 to 25 Urbos 3 trams. A £40 million firm order for 20 was subsequently signed, with options for five more. The first of the new trams was unveiled at the Wednesbury depot in October 2013.

The new fleet will provide an increased service of 10 trams per hour in each direction, with an increased capacity of 210 passengers per tram, compared with the 156 passengers on the existing T69 trams. The Urbos 3 trams are 33 metres long; 9 metres longer than the existing T69 stock, and have a maximum operating speed of 70km/h (43mph).

A 2.65 metres wide, The Urbos 3 trams are slightly wider than the 2.48 metre wide T69s. The line was closed for two weeks during March/April 2013, in order for the platforms on each of the stops to be narrowed by 15 centimetres to accommodate the new trams. The T69s were modified with wider steps to be compatible with the narrower platforms.

Maintenance vehicles
National Express Midland Metro, the operator of the tramway, acquired a number of vehicles for maintaining the line. These included a Unimog and a road-rail lifting platform.