£1 BILLION to convert 100 years successful railway to 10 Km tramway!

Honest confusion over costs or, simply, downright misleading/dishonest information?

Dear friends - please explain this discrepancy I have found.

You are putting it about in the media that building the tramway from Flood Street to Merry Hill SC - to act as a great inducement for Dudley shoppers to go there instead - is £295 m for 4 Kms.  I have found different figures, below.  Which is correct?  SHOULD YOU BE GETTING YOUR FACTS RIGHT?

​

​EVIDENCE:

FROM: https://governance.wmca.org.uk/documents/s20364/Wednesbury%20Brierley%20Hill%20Metro%20Extension%20Phase2.pdf

" ... on the delivery of the Metro extension Phase 2b totalling £261.4m for 1 Km.

Phase 2b (Waterfront Merry Hill to Merry Hill) £33.6m.  Why this difference?  Which is correct?  £261.4 or £33.6 m?

The latest cost estimates are: Phase 1 (Wednesbury to Dudley) £393.5m (from RAIL magazine, dated 7 August 2024)  Nearly the same as the £400 m from November 2024.  So, fair enough.

Phase 1: Wednesbury to Flood St., Dudley

Phase 2a: Flood St, Dudley to Waterfront Business Park

Phase 2b: Waterfront to Merry Hill Shopping Centre

Phase 2c: Merry Hill Shopping Centre to Brierley Hill Town Centre

(FROM para 12.4 on page 8)

"Since rewriting and submitting the FBC and the SAF appraisal in May 2024 it is noted in this report the total projected cost of Phase 2a, 2b of the WBHE project remains at £654.9m."   END OF QUOTE from para 12.12 on page 8.

Phase 2a (Dudley to Waterfront Merry Hill) £227m; plus 2b cost of £33.6 m = £260.6 for 2a and 2b (from RAIL magazine, 7.8.24)

WHY THE COLOSSAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN £654.9 m and £260.6 m?  Which is correct?

Source: Rising costs put West Midlands Metro extensions under threat https://search.app/53Q8HsRAAHyziU847 

or,   https://www.railmagazine.com/news/2024/08/06/rising-costs-put-west-midlands-metro-extensions-under-threat

£655 m for 4 Kms (£164m/Km) is SCANDALOUS - and, to destroy a former, principal mainline railway (that should have been brought back into use by the year 2000 CE)!

For another £261.4 million for only a maximum ONE KILOMETRE (1 Km) of the route from Waterfront to Merry Hill, is SCANDALOUS!  And it is deepening the catastrophic Climate emergency instead of urgent mitigation, which is still not seen (apart from my solar-powered house which is a warm home at est £191/year from the latest bill - in reality a little more).

THEREFORE: £400 million for 6 Kms of Phase 1    5.3 Kms on railway

                    £655 million for 4 Kms of Phase 2    1.86 Kms on railway

SAY: 7 Kms out of the 10 Kms on a former principal mainline railway.

10 Kms of tramway, 70% on a former mainline railway, "of national strategic significance", needed for freight after the 2040s at the earliest, yet still costing over ONE BILLION POUNDS!

And must be built because:

"Light rail investment provides the basis for restoring heavy rail services at the appropriate time."  Tom Magrath, Centro's Passenger Services Director, letter to self, dated 18 September 2000.  Yes, 24 years ago and trams must still be built in order to get the trains back - TRAINS THAT HAD BEEN SO SUCCESSFUL FOR 100 YEARS.  How stupid is that?!!