Faults fixed but rush-hour crash stops Midland Metro trams again

Engineers had worked through the night to solve faults that had caused chaos for travellers on Tuesday and Wednesday, only for an accident on Bilston Road to block the tracks at around 8am.

Firefighters from Wolverhampton and Bilston were at the crash and trams from Birmingham terminated at Priestfield until a full service resumed at 8.30am.

Nobody was thought to be seriously injured in the incident, but paramedics treated several people at the scene.

Many Midland Metro users had to walk nearly one mile between stations on the hottest day of the year yesterday after a problem with overhead cables started during the Tuesday evening rush hour.

Throughout Wednesday passengers had to make the journey between Black Lake and Guns Village stations on foot and then take a temporary shuttle service to West Bromwich Central before boarding a normal tram to Birmingham.

Problems initially arose at around 5.30pm on Tuesday and were due to be fixed by the Wednesday morning rush hour, however, the repairs did not resolve issues so there was a nightmare commute again yesterday.

Thankfully for travellers the problems were resolved by Thursday morning after Midland Metro cancelled all services between Wolverhampton and Birmingham from 10pm on Wednesday to allow engineers to work through the night.

Chaos also reigned on the trains yesterday, with more than 30 services cancelled travelling through Wolverhampton towards Stafford and Liverpool.

The rail disruption was resolved by around 3pm on Wednesday but only after hundreds of passengers had been delayed or diverted.

While the signalling fault at Bushbury was a result of extreme heat, bosses at Midland Metro operators National Express said problems with the trams were not related to the weather.

In total more than 30 London Midland Services through Wolverhampton were cancelled, with Virgin and CrossCountry services also affected.

While most of the problems were heading north out of Wolverhampton's station towards Stafford, there were also cancelled and delayed services towards Birmingham throughout the morning.

Some commuters were delayed by more than an hour.

Speaking at Wolverhampton, Alex Jones, aged 34, said: "I was supposed to be heading north for a meeting in Manchester but was told I would have to wait another hour,

"I was told there were buses to Stafford and Penkridge and that there are services going on from there but that is no good for me and it will be too late.

Spokesman Francis Thomas from London Midland said they first became aware of problems in the early hours of Wednesday.

He added: "National Rail realised it had a problem with the signalling at Bushbury. Signal which was restored shortly before 11.30am. The problem was heat-related but regardless of the cause if a passenger's delay has been more than 30 minutes they can apply for compensation by visiting the London Midland website.

"We encourage anyone who faced a significant delay to seek to claim compensation."

The Midland Metro service had been effectively split in two with trams running from Wolverhampton to Black Lake and then from West Bromwich Central to Birmingham.

Extra staff were put on to guide people on the 0.7 mile walk between Black Lake and Dudley Street Guns Village, where passengers were put on a shuttle service to West Bromwich Central.

Disrupted passengers were also given the alternative with tram tickets accepted on London Midland trains and also on National Express buses.

Becky Weaver was delayed by several hours yesterday and on Tuesday evening.

She said: "On Tuesday I got on at the Jewellery Quarter at 5.30pm. We did one stop and the tram broke down.

"We ended up sat on the tram for ten minutes with the doors shut as there was no power. We were then evacuated and I had to sort my own way home.

"And then on Wednesday morning I got to the tram station in Wolverhampton and was told the tram was only running to Black Lake, so instead I got the train.

"I understand problems happen but there has been little feedback from Midland Metro."

Regular tram user, Pat Archer, said: "I can't understand why they didn't just put a shuttle bus on from Black Lake to West Bromwich."

National Express spokesman Ali Bell said: "We put extra staff on and the latest information could be found on our website."