page_title: West Midlands Metro
section_title: Birmingham City Centre extension
hierarchical_section_title: West Midlands Metro / Expansion plans / Line 1 expansion / Birmingham City Centre extension
caption_attribution_description: English: In June 2016, shortly after the opening of the extension to Grand Central (New Street Station), a tram stands on the reversing spur in Stephenson Street. The extension to Centenary Square will contine to the right behind the tram along Pinfold Street.
context_page_description: West Midlands Metro is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. Opened on 30 May 1999, it consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via the towns of West Bromwich and Wednesbury, running on a mixture of reopened disused railway line and on-street running in urban areas. The line originally terminated at Birmingham Snow Hill station, but with extensions opened in 2015 and 2019, now runs into Birmingham City Centre to terminate at Library in Centenary Square, with further extension underway and due to be complete in 2021.
  The system is owned by the public body Transport for West Midlands, and operated through Midland Metro Ltd, a company wholly owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority.
  Extensions to Line 1, to Edgbaston at the southern end and Wolverhampton railway station in the north are under construction with passenger services expected to commence in 2021. Construction of a new Line 2 from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill was approved in March 2019 and started in February 2020. A further extension will create a new Line 3 from Edgbaston to Curzon Street, Digbeth and Birmingham Airport.
context_section_description: Until 2015, the southern end of the Metro line terminated at Snow Hill station, on the periphery of Birmingham City Centre. From its inception, Midland Metro had failed to attain projected passenger numbers and to operate at a profit, and this was attributed to the fact that the line could not carry passengers all the way into the urban centre. The Birmingham City Centre Extension (BCCE) was conceived to solve this problem by extending Line 1 into the streets of central Birmingham. Originally it was planned to terminate the extension at Stephenson Street, adjacent to New Street railway station, but the plans were revised to continue the extension to Birmingham Library. Eventually, Centro hoped to extend the line as far as Five Ways. A Transport and Works Order authorising the BCCE was made in July 2005, and Government approval was given in February 2012. A new fleet of trams and a new depot at Wednesbury were also authoirsed, with a budget of £128m, of which £75m was to be funded by the Department for Transport (DfT). Extension works began in June 2012.
  The extension of Line 1 is taking place in three phases:
  The extension from St Chads to Grand Central was completed in 2016. This extension used a new route to the east of Snow Hill station which diverged from the original line along a new viaduct and descended to street level. The former tram terminus inside Snow Hill station was closed, releasing a fourth platform at Snow Hill to be reinstated for mainline railway use. Interchange between National Rail services and trams is now provided at Bull Street, approximately 320 metres (1,050 ft) from Snow Hill station. From Snow Hill a new tramway was built along Colmore Circus, Upper Bull Street, Corporation Street and Stephenson Street, terminating at Grand Central, which opened on 30 May 2016. A temporary reversing spur was built in Stephenson Street to allow trams to turn back for the return journey to Wolverhampton. On 19 November 2015, The Queen visited Birmingham and named one of the new trams.
  The extension from Grand Central to Centenary Square began on 5 September 2017. and was opened to passenger service in December 2019. Trams now run from Stephenson Street along Pinfold Street, through Victoria Square with a new stop at Town Hall, along Paradise Street and Broad Street, and terminate at Birmingham Library in Centenary Square.
  The Birmingham Westside extension will continue the line from Birmingham Library along Broad Street to Hagley Road in Edgbaston (just west of Five Ways). Additional local enterprise partnership funding was made available in 2014 for the extension from Five Ways to Edgbaston.  The extension is scheduled to be completed in 2021 with new tram stops to be built at Brindleyplace, Five Ways and Edgbaston.
caption: A tram stands on the reversing spur in Stephenson Street. The extension to Centenary Square will continue to the right behind the tram along Pinfold Street.
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