line extended from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill<\/a>, linking Dudley with Birmingham, Wolverhampton and the national rail network.<\/p>\nMidland Metro Alliance \u2013 a joint venture of Egis, Tony Gee, Pell Frischmann and Colas Rail with partners Colas Ltd, Barhale, Bouygues UK and Auctus Management Group, together with the client West Midlands Combined Authority \u2013 began delivering the 11km metro extension three years ago.<\/p>\n
However, in a report set to go before the West Midlands Combined Authority’s board on Friday (9 June), members will be told that despite an additional injection of \u00a360m from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the planned 11km extension is \u201cnot considered affordable\u201d.<\/p>\n
Instead, it has been proposed that the line stops at Merry Hill \u2013 one station short of its original destination \u2013 in order to cut costs, with passengers completing their journey on foot or by other means of transport.<\/p>\n
The report will say: \u201cConnectivity from this interim terminus to connect onwards to Brierley Hill High Street can be provided through a combination of pedestrian, cycle and demand-responsive bus solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Completion of the extension as initially planned would depend on further funding being secured from other \u201cas yet to be identified\u201d local funding sources or government grant, the report adds.<\/p>\n
Last summer, the board heard that the cost of the scheme had increased as a result of supply chain disruption and inflationary pressure following the pandemic and international unrest.<\/p>\n
The report warns that the business case for the scheme would need to be refreshed in the face of these cost increases and also to factor in reduced demand for metro travel post-Covid.<\/p>\n
The revised business case is likely to undergo government scrutiny and could face \u201crobust challenge\u201d, it adds.<\/p>\n
The specific financial details of the proposal were published separately in a private document for reasons of commercial confidentiality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Soaring costs are set to cause a Bouygues-led consortium to scale back work to extend the West Midlands Metro line. Funding of \u00a3450m approved in 2019 was meant to see the line extended from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill, linking Dudley with Birmingham, Wolverhampton and the national rail network. Midland Metro Alliance \u2013 a joint venture …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130832,"featured_media":355580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[530,549],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n