Express & Star

Engineering issues on the trams cause commuter chaos

Commuters faced fresh travel misery when they were faced by delays on the region's tram system due to engineering problems.

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Pictures posted on social media showed severe overcrowding on the Midland Metro trams yesterday morning, with passengers struggling to find space to even stand.

It comes after a busy weekend for rail passengers, with trains packed due to Birmingham's Christmas Market and West Bromwich Albion's derby against Aston Villa.

The strain for commuters yesterday was caused due to a limited service operating between Priestfield and Birmingham Snow Hill, with seven out of the 10 trams running.

Midland Metro announced the service had returned to normal at midday, but apologised to passengers for the inconvenience caused.

The lack of trams in service meant the vehicles called at stations every 15 minutes - instead of the normal 6-8 minutes, causing overcrowding as passenger numbers built up at each stop before a tram arrived.

Jack Kelly, spokesman for Midland Metro, said: "We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers this morning.

"The disruption to service was caused by engineering issues on several trams.

"This is a very rare occurrence and has already been rectified."

Sandwell Council cabinet member for transport, Councillor Ian Jones, said: "I've seen the problems reported of overcrowding - I understand it was because of a lack of trams in service.

"It is frustrating. We want to see people use public transport, if it is not available this needs to be looked at urgently to see why some of the time we are in this position.

"I'm not aware what was wrong with trams, I know we recently commissioned new ones, it was something which was very nice to see.

"I think we have the infrastructure there, but we need to ensure we have the timetabled service to meet the demand."

The problems yesterday followed a busy weekend for rail services.

British Transport Police, West Midlands Police and Midland Metro had warned passengers of Friday of 'extremely busy' trains due to the Frankfurt Christmas market in Birmingham and West Bromwich Albion's derby against Aston Villa on Saturday.

To avoid overcrowding, London Midland staff kept watch over the the number of people on board its trains before their arrival at The Hawthorns.

Fans were led down to the platform level from a waiting area to avoid crowding on the station.

Staff working at Birmingham New Street station also took action to avoid problems of crowding.

As well as urging passengers to allow extra time before catching their trains, people were asked to wait on the station concourse to allow platforms to clear.

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