Very many thanks, Ian for letting me know. You are very decent and highly capable and respected.
£60 m is nowhere near enough, I would have thought. A pittance, especially when Phase 2 is the most costly and difficult half to achieve, I've always thought.
£60 m must be used for one of my three options to be delivered, please. Preferably option One and the £60 m returned to HMG! Or, you ask for it to be used for the world's first train-tram-train mainline railway between Great British Railways HQ at Derby, Walsall, Dudley, Stourbridge and on to Worcester, Bristol/Oxford ... London.
WBHE Phase 2 is still irresponsibly expensive and disastrous when it destroys the only public open space at Merry Hill with the 400 m viaduct and two oblique canal bridges, the desperately needed housing land at High Plateau, nature in one of the most nature depleted countries in the world (Attenborough) and, my magnificent vertical guerrilla garden I would love to show you, Ian. Five councillors have had the decency to visit, with me - including your Opposition leader. Don't miss a treat!!
It is scandalous that the Parkhead Viaduct work is being paid for out of the WBHE money for, officially, now £550 m (2020?), I understand. Network Rail should have done the work in order to reinstate the commuter, regional and freight trains between Gt British Railway HQ in Derby and Worcester.
In 2013 or 2014, I can remember Toby Rackcliff, at 16 Summer Lane, telling me that Parkhead strengthening would be £10 m, he thought. I believe, it is still nowhere near finished. I shudder to think what the cost is, so far. Network Rail palmed it off onto yourselves and you should never have allowed it, accepted it and, certainly not for trams. You were sold, or given, a pup, I'm sad to conclude.
For about 100 years, Dudley Station (not tram stop!) Parkhead Viaduct and Stambermill Viaduct were all used very successfully for passenger and freight trains by the Oxford, Worcester, Wolverhampton Railway Company. It is quite scandalous the destruction of seven Dudley railway lines and about 100 Kms in our region, I would guess. 100 Kms are still available for the reinstatement of trains. But they must have top priority NOT trams, please my friend.
Very best wishes. You are a busy man, I know.
Tim
On Wed, 22 Mar 2023 at 19:11, Councillor Ian Ward <Ian.Ward@birmingham.gov.uk> wrote:
Tim
The recent Devo deal has provided money or the promise of money for the Brierley Hill Metro extension.
Ian
From: Tim Weller <timweller1@gmail.com>
Sent: 22 March 2023 17:31
To: <Customer Services> <customerservices@tfwm.org.uk>; Councillor Ian Ward <Ian.Ward@birmingham.gov.uk>
Subject: 3 option suggestions to save money and greenhouse gas emissions
The Dudley Tram is so very expensive that WMCA transport lead, Cllr Ian Ward, has personally told me that there is still no money for the section from Dudley Transport Interchange to Cottage Street, Brierley Hill. Therefore, the authorities can save £100 m by either:
- Leave the tram to terminate in Dudley town centre when it opens next year.
- Take the tram on down Flood Street to Cinder Bank roundabout where it is planned to rejoin the former mainline railway and, then keep it on the double tracks to Stourbridge Jct to connect with the national railway network. Freight trains will have to operate at night - no great hardship.
- Keep to the original plan but let it cross the Dudley No 1 Canal once only and, then, terminate it between the shopping centre and the Waterfront - at Level Street, halfway between them. This saves about £100m from not having to build the 400 metre concrete and steel, double track viaduct and the second canal crossing.
Tim
