Birmingham Tram Ride - Centenary Square to St Chads

A ride on the Metro Tram from the latest extended section, Centenary Square to St. Chads. Travelling past the Hall of Memory, Town Hall into Pinfold St, Stephenson St, Corporation St, Bull St, Colmore Circus to the St. Chads stop. The next extension of the tram line will take it to Five Ways.

[@timosha21]

Ding ding! I'm a tram and I approve this video!!!!

[@petercurrell9344]

Love the grass section down the slope by Snow hill station.

[@grahamwalls9379]

Our city centre is so much a nicer city centre these days . Birmingham is becoming a happening city & I am proud to come from there . Enjoyed the video . Now hopefully with restrictions easing , I may be able to get up there again .

[@plasticpaddy198]

Hi Graham, there is a lot happening and lots of new buildings. A charge for driving in town now if your vehicle is not modern and changes to road layouts. But it is looking good.

[@grahamwalls9379]

@@plasticpaddy198 thankfully I don’t drive . But the worrying thing is , a nasty outbreak of violent crime in Birmingham city centre . Making it quite unsafe to go there sadly .

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@grahamwalls9379 Sorry mate you are either watching or reading fake news and reading into false news too much, I have lived in Birmingham for 66 years and I can tell you that there has been no outbreak of violent crime in Birmingham City Center, Birmingham has no more crime than London, Manchester, Bristol, New York, Chicago or any other City in the world and is very safe to travel too mate, so please stop painting Birmingham with a negative attitude because it does not wash and I am afraid it is not true, Birmingham like any other City in the World is as safe as you make it and Brum is a fantastic modern City to visit.

[@peterzombatcrosby8139]

Very well shot video and impressive looks like a very well run tram system or street cars as we call them here in Toronto Ontario. Thanks for sharing with us.

[@plasticpaddy198]

Many thanks Peter. My brother lives near Ottawa and we have visited Canada twice, both times we went to Toronto where his in laws live. It is a country with stunning views and we enjoyed Toronto and the CN tower. I would enjoy filming in Canada, so much to see.

[@peterzombatcrosby8139]

@@plasticpaddy198Thanks I am an expat Brit it was either Canada or Australia I heard from Canada first.We have a 👍great city and country. Actually if you check out johnny strides and ken continuum on KZbin they do narrated tour's around Toronto which you may enjoy. Enjoy your Monday.

[@musiclover5023]

I am.stunned, living abroad, the trams are back in Birmingham !

[@plasticpaddy198]

Hi MusicLover, that's progress, get rid of something only to bring it back years later. The trams add another dimension to Brum and it's great to ride through the city.

[@musiclover5023]

@@plasticpaddy198 I bet it is, I watched the journey through all of my old favourite places in the city centre, couldn't believe my eyes, I talk to my family in Birmingham almost daily and nobody has said anything about the trams being back ,Lol

[@shirmelduggins9984]

This most certainly is not the Birmingham I grew up in. The change is impressive and well needed. I would be lost if I were ever to visit. Talk about needing a map. I love the changes - most definitely progress

[@plasticpaddy198]

I drive into Birmingham 3 or 4 times a year and you have to keep a good lookout at the signs because they keep closing roads and changing the routes that I'm used to..

[@adebolabloke6962]

Stabbings and homeless drug addicts.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

@@adebolabloke6962 No more than any other UK City

[@sivayamsiva9343]

Thanks for sharing beautiful tram ride video 👌👌👌

[@plasticpaddy198]

Many thanks Sivayam, have a great New Year.

[@transportspotting]

What a great view from there, thank you for this video.

[@plasticpaddy198]

Thank you, it is a great view from the library.

[@petercurrell9344]

Notice the last 4 stops there is no overhead wires the tram runs on batteries for this short distance.

[@Qingep]

Awesome! Now I can ride the tram to the library so I don't have to walk it!

[@josemaestroperez6008]

Nice...from Spain....

[@plasticpaddy198]

Thank you

[@scottmurphy4278]

Which is exactly where the trams are from 😊

[@transitdude3352]

Very nice ride!🚊

[@plasticpaddy198]

Many thanks

[@englishboy2562]

beautiful

[@moisesaraujo4760]

Lujo de tren masivo urbano felicitaciones

[@plasticpaddy198]

Thank you.

[@АклызМелкенды]

how are they powered? Don't see any wires

[@plasticpaddy198]

Hi, sorry for the late reply. For these last sections (just over a mile) they run on batteries and recharge when they get back onto the previous built sections with wires.

[@jeffrey3895]

Why the objection to trolley wire? Especially so in narrow streets where spanwires can be strung between buildings. Nowadays, trolley wire is suspended with minimal span wire. It is part of the package. Having sections of track without trolley wire is total non sense. Just could not imagine the streets of Melbourne without it. Our trams used to run with trolley poles but their replacement with pantographs has enabled the removal of lots of excessive spanwires, especially on curves. The current operators of our tramway have totally reinvented the trolley infrastructure and turned it into a work of art.

[@plasticpaddy198]

Hi Jeffrey, this is the reason. Birmingham will become the first city in UK to use the latest battery technology to enable Midland Metro catenary-free operation. Centro’s fleet of Midland Metro Urbos 3 trams are to be fitted with hi-tech batteries to power the vehicles through architecturally sensitive areas.

[@MrGlendale111]

These Trams come very close to Pedestrians.

[@plasticpaddy198]

Hi, the trams have right of way, the people only have to wait a few seconds for the tram to pass but they insist on walking across the tracks even when they know the tram is coming.

[@RyanHolliday211]

@@plasticpaddy198 seems like the trams would benefit from a pedestrian barrier between the tracks except at designated crossings. Seems very strange to me that this free crossing is allowed.

[@plasticpaddy198]

@@RyanHolliday211 Hi, I think the pedestrians would complain that it would be too restrictive. Because there has been a huge reduction in vehicles using these roads it is actually safer now to cross anywhere along the tram route , people just need to use common sense and wait a few seconds.

[@malcolmgeorge1180]

it's not trams fault if pedestrians show a lack of awareness

[@CreatorPolar]

Yeah because the trams run on the street, what did you expect?

[@mujahidmauthoor5051]

It's very slow. The one in Mauritius is faster.

[@plasticpaddy198]

We don't like to rush things in Brum.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

It is slow as it is running through a high density pedestrian area in the City Centre and near the Library it is a semi building site at the moment, but once the trams leave the City Centre at Snow Hill they go onto the old Great Western Railway track bed to Wolverhampton and run at speeds of 50 MPH

[@robwainman5421]

Why so slow........?

[@plasticpaddy198]

No idea.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

They run at a fairly slow speed through the City Center due to pedestrians using the same streets and have to keep to 30 mph, but once they have left the City Center after Birmingham Snow Hill where the Tram becomes a Metro using the old Great Western/British Rail Line formation between Birmingham and Wolverhampton they reach speeds of between 40 and 50 mph.

[@robloxdude7564]

so they dont hit people..

[@63DAVEMAC]

I hate these trams taking over towns and cities. I as a lorry driver have and will always refuse to deliver to any company on a tram route. Many of these companies will go out of business thanks to these stupid trams. In my opinion.

[@plasticpaddy198]

I had not considered the problem caused to lorries, I would not like to be driving a lorry in towns especially with the trams, and all the changes to the road system in Birmingham.

[@max79444]

What a godforsaken piece of dangerous junk. We should have gone for a subway. Pedestrianised the city centre... amazing load of expensive dangerous crap

[@plasticpaddy198]

It is looking to be a very expensive mistake.

[@peterwilliamallen1063]

Wow what rubbish mate, most Cities in Europe and the UK have road level tram system, one example is the Tram system in Manchester which like the Midland Metro utilises both Road, Pedestrian areas and old Railway lines, this system is cheaper and quicker to build than an underground system and us Brummies and Wolverhampton people have had enough inconvenience of closing and ripping up roads for years to lay these tracks, never mind boring tunnels under the City and massive great cavernous holes being dug for stations, take the Elizabeth Line in London as an example.

[@robloxdude7564]

Pedestrianization is very good and helps gentrify and rejuvenate old, traffic-ridden city city centes