Vandal-hit Metro still struggling

Jun 4 2007 By Steve Johnson, Birmingham Mail

FRUSTRATED commuters were still struggling to get to work today, five days after vandals brought chaos to the region's Midland Metro service.

The tram service running between Birmingham Snow Hill and Wednesbury Parkway was suspended after vandals brought down overhead cables near Soho at 6 pm last Wednesday.

Travel West Midlands spokesman Phil Bateman said today that a truncated service, between the Wolverhampton St George's terminus and West Bromwich Central, was running every seven minutes.

He said there was also a shuttle tram service operating between West Bromwich Central and The Hawthorns, connecting with Central Trains services on a 12-minute service.

Mr Bateman said that passengers could also use Travel West Midlands buses to get into Birmingham.

He said the vandals, who threw a bin bag onto a tram, bringing down cables, had caused extensive problems.

"We have had engineers working throughout the weekend trying to restore a full service but we are still not running normally.

"I shall be having a meeting this afternoon to see if a full Metro service can resume tomorrow morning," he said.