Three new tram stops start

Tuesday 14th April 2026

Passengers using the West Midlands Metro tram network and Sheffield Supertram were both treated to the opening of new stops last week and I paid a visit to both to see what’s on offer.

The West Midlands Metro expansion involves the partial opening of the much delayed one mile Birmingham Eastside extension (shown in green in the map below) which branches off the current tracks (shown in pink) at Bull Street, in central Birmingham, towards the site of new HS2 station in Curzon Street and Digbeth.

But for now it only extends about a quarter of that distance to the temporary terminus at Millennium Point with an intermediate new stop at Albert Street, handy for a short walk to Moor Street station. The tracks to, and stops at, Curzon Street, Meriden Street and Digbeth will have to wait until access is available across the Curzon Street Station construction site…

… which the tracks cross before joining up with tracks that have already been laid and are ready and waiting along Meriden Street and on to Digbeth.

As you can see in the photo above, the extension is double tracked until it reaches the new Millennium Point stop where, as a shoert term measure, it merges into a single piece of track alongside the new temporary platform with a buffer stop just beyond (photo below).

As implied on the map diagram showing the new extension…

… as well as the timetable…

… trams serve Millennium Point as part of a through journey from Wolverhampton to Edgbaston Village but it’s not made very clear to passengers how this works in practice, as I found when I paid a visit on Friday afternoon.

I waited at the tram stop in Bull Street just before where the new extension branches off and noticed the electronic departure sign was showing the next two trams both going to Edgbaston Village but with no indication whether they were going via Millennium Point in the new section of track.

I’d just missed a tram but noticed it went the normal route after the Bull Street stop into Corporation Street so I guessed the next one would be serving the new stops.

Looking at the timetable posted in the shelter, which was hard as the print is so small (I took a photo and enlarged it on my phone), the implication is that during the day alternate trams take the new route but it’s certainly not clear. The map on the top of the ticket machine had been updated…

… as had the one in the shelter.

But when the tram appeared it was showing Millennium Point as the terminus both on the front and internally along with announcements to that effect so despite all the forgoing, I then assumed it would indeed terminate there rather than continue to Edgbaston Village.

Passengers on board were understandably confused and kept asking the conductor whether it was going to New Street station (now called Grand Central) and Edgbaston Village which was just as well they were reassured to stay on the tram as we arrived and the automated PA announcement confirmed Millennium Point as the terminus.

The driver changed ends and I jumped out to take a few photos…

… noting the shelter had a timetable stuck to the glass panel…

… and then jumped back on board to hear the PA announcement had been updated to confirm we were indeed going to Edgbaston Village.

And just to confirm how daft these new arrangements appear in practice, as we continued past the Albert Street stop heading back to the junction with Bull Street and Corporation Street…

… I saw the next tram behind was just leaving the Bull Street stop and then….

… turn right ahead of us into Corporation Street making everyone on board even more frustrated at wasting nine minutes doing that double run, as we turned left into Corporation Street and followed the tram-behind-now-in-front to Grand Central where I bailed out having completed my mission.

The other oddity with this extension is it’s only served by trams travelling in the Edgbaston Village direction making it possible to travel from, say, Wolverhampton and all stops to Birmingham Snow Hill and Bull Street to Millennium Point, but not back home again. Similarly you can travel from Millennium Point to New Street Station and Edgbaston Village but not the other way.

It’s all rather odd. And it’s not that there hasn’t been time to give the operational implications careful consideration. The Birmingham East extension was originally planned (and still showing on the West Midlands Metro website) as opening in 2023.

The plan is to extend this extension on to North Solihull, the airport, NEC, the HS2 Interchange and surrounding Arden Cross regeneration zone as part of a Government £2.4 billion funding boost to the West Midlands transport network “unlocking billions of pounds in private sector investment” and “will kickstart Birmingham’s huge Sports Quarter regeneration project”. The Metro extension “is the key to unlocking investment plans which aim to release the area’s untapped potential for economic growth and help tackle poverty in one of the UK’s most deprived areas, creating thousands of jobs and opportunities for local people …. it is also expected to be the catalyst for £3bn of wider investment, delivering more than 1,500 new homes and creating over 8,000 jobs” including a new 60,000 seat stadium for Birmingham City FC.

So that’s all good, but I doubt I’ll still be around, let alone blogging to tell you about the first tram on that extended extension.

In the more immediate future there’s the seven mile Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension with 14 new tram stops, the first phase of which, as far as Dudley could even open later this year with the second phase to Brierley Hill “expected to open to passengers in 2028”.

I just hope when the section of track to Dudley opens we don’t get alternate trams double running between Wolverhampton and Birmingham (but not on the return) as with Millennium Point. There’d be no Point.

That new extension opened on Sunday last week but on Thursday it was the turn of Sheffield Supertram to give passengers an Easter week treat with the opening of a new stop at Magna just north of Meadowhall on the ‘TramTrain’ section of tracks also used by Northern and freight trains.

It’s therefore a fully fledged ‘station’ style piece of infrastructure on Network Rail managed tracks…

… rather than a ‘tram’ style platform where passengers are able to cross tracks from one side to the other.

There are notices telling passengers to “KEEP OFF THE TRACK” in yellow and “Warning. Do not tresspass on the railway. Penalty £1000” in red so, this TramTrain stop comes with the full works of a footbridge…

… stairs…

… and lifts…

… but it’s not got full length platforms by any means as it’s only envisaged TramTrains will stop here rather than Northern’s big train set.

Facilities are minimal with just a small shelter and waiting area and electronic departure sign…

… together with a cycle rack.

There’s no ticket machine as Sheffield Supertram is a pay-on-tram system.

Adjacent to the Sheffield bound platform is a large car park promoted as a Park and Ride opportunity alongside the Magna Science Adventure Centre … “a vast building, a third of a mile long and 150 feet high with four pavilions housing over 100 hands-on exhibits themed on Air, Earth, Fire and Water. The spectacular Big Melt Show re-creates the story of the steelworks and fabulous outdoor play facilities make for a great day out.” On the journey I made to the new tram stop, one young lad and his mum alighted and headed over to the Centre, and, as you can see the car park was well occupied for a Saturday lunch time.

The Full Business Case for the project was approved by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority in July 2022 with Network Rail appointed for its delivery which in turn appointed AmcoGiffin to undertake construction to a design based on heavy rail infrastructure with staggered platforms and the already mentioned footbridge and lifts. The cost of £10.1 million was funded from the Transforming Cities Fund.

It’s anticipated the stop opening will help the viability of the extension to Rotherham Central and Parkgate which opened in 2018. It sits on the section of track between Meadowhall South at Tinsley and Rotherham Central…

… and enjoys a half hourly service through to Sheffield Cathedral between 06:05 and 23:51 (Sundays 09:06 and 20:48). It looks to me as though the main justification for this £10.1 million addition is whether it can attract enough Park and Ride drivers to park up (for free) and switch to a Tram/Train. But with only 100 designated spaces in the Magna car park for that purpose, that may be wishful thinking.

Blogging will return to the West Midlands next week to feature more new infrastructure which have opened in the last few weeks in the form of five new railway stations.

Roger French

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