New in the West Midlands

A couple of visits to the West Midlands recently has seen some changes appearing in the public transport scene....

Avanti Class 805

It is apparently controversial to say but I rather like the DfT's Intercity Express Project train fleet, and in Avanti service as the Class 805 I think they are much nicer to travel on than the operator's other trains, the Class 390 Pendolino (dark and cramped) and the diesel Class 222 Voyager (on their way out with the arrival of the bi-mode 805s).

West Midlands Trains Class 730

These might be the final iteration of the Bombardier/Alstom 'Aventra' train built just up the road (or the Derby lines) in Derby.  They are very different from the venerable Class 323s they will replace (and on which I commuted for six years).  Notable is the lack of any bulkhead or screen by the doors, creating a very light and spacious interior.  They do have far fewer seats, largely in a 2+2 configuration but with a good number of single seats (or Rowley seats).  One thing I don't like about WMT's 730 procurement is the lack of vision in buying three car trains and running them round in multiple: a six car train would give more space for seats and passengers, have a fully walk through train for both personal [perception of?] safety and for on train/revenue control staff, and reduce the likelihood of 3-car trains being sent out in the peaks.

Seat back tables seems a little excessive for the Cross-City line in Birmingham.

Rowley seats

Very open interior

As a post upload note due to a comment by a friend: these trains are also being used on services between Northampton and London Euston, and for that they are a very poor replacement for the Class 350.

And a Heritage Livery

One of the out-going fleet of Class 323s has been painted in it's original Regional Railways livery.  I thin this one has moved on to its new home with Northern, operating in north-west England, now.

University Station

Just in time to miss the 2022 Commonwealth Games, a new station has been built at University. To be fair it was required as the tiny ticket hall at the old station building was wholly inadequate for the university to the east and hospital to the right.  When I first visited in April 2024 there was disability guidance filming taking place, which seemed to require loads of agency staff standing around doing nothing.   There was also some WMT middle/middling managers there who seemed surprised when I pointed out there wasn't a single sign pointing towards the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, apparently with 1.215 beds is one of the largest single site hospitals in the UK, cheers Wiki.  On my second visit a staff shortage (sic) meant the busy side, in to the city, had its gates left open but the less busy southbound was staffed...je despair!

Anyway, poor signage and odd staffing arrangements aside, it's an OK station.  It has a lift or a lot of stairs if you want to access/leave the platforms, 

Plenty of train-cardio opportunity!

No signage to the hospital (don't be fooled: 'NHS Services' points towards a small health centre which will be in a shop unit at the station

Station overview from the Hospital side

Very Light Rail

A work trip afforded the chance to look at the Very Light Rail concept being developed by Coventry City Council and the Black Country Innovation and Manufacturing Organisation. Read more here....

Electric Buses 

And in particular, for Coventry, which aims to be the first city to have a fully electric bus fleet.  National Express West Midlands (or Wumpty to older viewers) have replaced their double deck fleet and Stagecoach recently ordered electric buses for their Nuneaton depot, who run in to Coventry.  These ADL Enviro 400 City EV are smooth and quick buses - or so it seemed to be, but apparently are only capable of forty-something mph.  Nonetheless they keep up with the flow of traffic on the busy A45 between Birmingham, the Airport and Coventry much better than any diesel bus.

Tram Extensions

Some years from opening, but the extensions from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill, and from Birmingham city centre to Digbeth and Deritend are at east under construction....

The Brierley Hill extension passing Dudley Castle

And the Deritend extension passing the Custard Factory on Digbeth High Street

Ticket Machines

What goes around comes around! Midland Metro opened in 1998 with ticket machines at every stop.  I suspect a combination of poor design and vandalism led to their unreliability and eventual removal, being replaced with conductors on each tram.  Well, that is now being reversed and ticket machines are being installed, but not yet operational, on what is now West Midlands Tram.

And one thing that is still rubbish - ticketing

After Avanti took over the West Coast rail franchise, at Coventry station they replaced the bank of 10+ ticket machines that had only recently been installed by predecessor Virgin Trains and took away the ability to buy West Midlands day tickets from them.  

The West Midlands could do with catching up with literally [almost] everywhere else in the world and enabling mobile phone day tickets, or fare capping. But no, pointless old-technology-when-they-were-new 'Swift' cards remain in use. Or queue at the ticket office where only one window was open. Is it Walsall or Warsaw where one can buy any ticket on any number of apps and validate it on-vehicle with no driver interaction? Hmmm.....

Rubbish