The Birmingham Metro is operated by Travel Metro which is part of the UK Bus Division of the National Express group and competes with trains, coaches and bus operators for passengers along their routes.
 
Promoted by West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority and Centro, the Midland metro  opened in 1999 at a total cost of £144.8million and became the first tramway to run anywhere in the West Midlands for some forty years.  The construction work, which covered track, stations and buildings, was carried out by contractor John Laing plc who was also the construction company for the Birmingham Airport Eurohub terminal. Ansaldo Trasporti, an Italian based rail and signalling supplier, were responsible for the provision and delivery of the trams, signalling and communication equipment and overhead line equipment.

The overall cost included the work of apparatus diversion which was carried out by the various utilities, namely gas, water, telecommunications, electricity and cable TV companies, whose plant was affected by the route where it passed along existing highways.

Funding was provided by a number of organisations; the Government provided a £40million grant and a £40million loan, £31million was provided by a European grant,  the West Midlands Transport Authority  gave £17.1 million, £11.4 million came from the private consortium ALTRAM, £4.0million came from the three council authority in conjunction with the Black Country Development Corporation, through which the route passes, namely Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Birmingham, £1.0million came from Centro and £0.3million from utility companies.

ALTRAM were the consortium chosen to design, construct, maintain and, having won a twenty five year concession, operate the system with Travel West Midlands being awarded the management contract and a separate division Travel Midland Metro, was formed to operate and maintain the new light rail travel system.

The Midland Metro route stretches for some 20.4kms. and runs from Wolverhampton St Georges to Birmingham Snow Hill in the main following the old Great Western Railway route, but it also runs along a 2km section of the A41, Bilston Road, between Wolverhampton and Priestfield. With also a shared alignment between the Hawthorns and Snow Hill. The trams also have road priority. Like all transport service operators in the West Midlands, the fall of snow can affect tram travel times, the timetable and competitor's timetables dramatically.

There is a fleet of sixteen trams operating along the route, which includes 23 stops to serve communities which include Bilston, Wednesbury, West Bromwich and Handsworth, as well as commuter traffic between Wolverhampton and Birmingham. Each tram is equipped with 56 seats providing a 208 passenger capacity. The tram’s fully meet the requirements of the Disabled Discrimination Act and compliant and level boarding means easy boarding and disboarding for Senior Citizens, passengers managing baby buggies and the disabled, each tram has a two wheelchair capacity.

The Trams are powered by 750 volt DC electric current supplied by overhead power cables and have a maximum speed of 70 kph an acceleration of 0 – 50kph in ten seconds and under normal working operations can stop in 182metres.

All trams have CCTV/security cameras and are linked via an intercom system to the Metro Centre in Wednesbury. The trams run every seven minutes during the day and every ten minutes during the evening and on Sundays. So if you miss one the next one is usually around the corner.

The tram drivers are fully trained to provide a smooth and, more importantly, safe journey’s. There are a total of approximately 116 operational staff and 30 engineering staff employed in delivering the service.
 
Initial teething problems have now been overcome and Travel Midland Metro regularly returns performance figures of between 98.6% - 100% on a monthly basis. Such figures make the Midland Metro one of the most reliable rail based transport systems operating in the UK.

Future line extensions proposed are: Birmingham City Centre from Snow Hill to Five Ways via Broad Street and Wednesbury to Brierley Hill through Dudley and the Merry Hill Centre.

As a point of interest a recent TV news programme set out to prove which was the quickest form of commuter travel in the rush hour between Wolverhampton and Birmingham, the car driver or Metro passenger.  The cameras followed the journey of both and the Metro passenger was a comfortable first and, of course, without the everyday stresses the car driver experiences.

The rail link is addressed in a number of terminologies i.e. Wolverhampton Metro, Birmingham to Wolverhampton train, trains Birmingham to Wolverhampton, train from Birmingham to Wolverhampton, Metro to Wolverhampton, etc., the use of the word train actually being incorrect as the Midland Metro system is officially identified as a tram service.

The intercity link is ideal for people either living or staying in Wolverhampton or Birmingham and allows travellers to visit various places of interest in both cities, the numerous things to do in the Midlands, or simply a day out shopping, or a visit to the various local Birmingham attractions and events by linking the trams to the rail system, or the network of buses and coaches. They may, however, be tourists on a UK adventure, those on a day or days out in the Midlands, or those merely seeking advice from other passengers on what to do or see in the surrounding areas?

For those interested in photography, you will find the journey in either direction well worth while, with both cities offering a wide and varied range of subjects to suit virtually everyone's taste, including images of the Metro trams running side by side with cars, lorries, buses etc., plus the various online stations.