I haven’t been to Birmingham for almost a year, and the trams weren’t running at all then due to the cracks. Do they run on battery power on the whole of this new section?
They run on batteries to clear the areas of architectural sensitivity (ie., Vicky Square, Town Hall and Centenary Square.) They run the trams up to Brindley Place on battery, then run the trams on the OLE line up to just before Cineworld. This gives some time to reserve the battery. From Cineworld the tram runs on batteries under Fiveways island, until it reaches Edgbaston Village stop and the pantograph goes up to charge the batteries whilst waiting for departure. On the leg heading to Grand Central, the section past Town Hall has a significant downhill section and gives opportunity for regenerative braking, allowing the tram to recover the kinetic energy to charge the battery. The pan goes up outside Grand Central for OLE running all the way to Wolverhampton: St georges. As for the Wednesfield Dudley/ Merry Hill extension, I'm not sure how much of the route is battery running and OLE running.
The terminus is outside 54 Hagley Road, this is considered part of Edgbaston. Going much further along this road you would soon be in Harborne district!
@@RailSpots I used to live st Augustins and so for me that was edgbaston…if I get a tram to edgbaston village, I would have a couple mile walk to, well, edgbaston village where I lived. It does look great though and I’m sure they will extend it again later. Hill street, broad street and bull street do look iconic now, and even that tunnel at five ways looks the business now.
@@k.jamescarters9557 Edgbaston Village is what Calthorpe Estates call the triangular area between Hagley, Calthorpe and Highfield Roads, with Greenfield Crescent being the centrepiece, it's semi pedestrianised now with bars and restaurants lining it. Edgbaston as a whole is quite a strange shape and extends all the way down to Pershore Rd by the cricket stadium so this isn't really a central Edgbaston stop. Hopefully the more people that use the trams create a business case to extend it past St Augustine's and down towards Quinton
@@RailSpots many thanks, I had a feeling they had renamed the area just by the vibe. For me the village part was always down at the gardens, but it looks like they have made a second snow hill there, so fair play to them. It does look the business!
The annoying this is Calthorpe estates has set aside an 8 metre strip all along Hagley Road ready to have a track all the way up to the Kings Head Cross interchange up by Bearwood. I wish they sort out the adjacent bus lane and bus stop though.