Once upon a time in Birmingham…

3ECO has been supporting the Midland Metro Alliance (MMA) through Egis Rail (UK) for the last 6 months by providing the leadership catalyst for the testing and commissioning of the new tram system through our Jim Whittington who took on the role of Testing & Commissioning Manager on the Birmingham tramway project at the beginning of July 2019.

Project main stakeholders

To put things in context, the Midland Metro Alliance (MMA) is working on behalf of the West Midlands Combined Authority to expand the tram network by approximately 34km across the region.
MMA projects include routes along Broad Street to Edgbaston, out to the Eastside of Birmingham along Digbeth High Street, to Wolverhampton Railway Station, to Dudley and Brierley Hill from Wednesbury and all the way out to Birmingham Airport in Solihull.
EGIS Rail (UK) is part of the MMA as a member of the consortium designer including Pell Frischmann and Tony Gee.

3ECO Contribution to the Birmingham Tramway Project

From helping with the T&C preparation phase at the start with all the required planning and paperwork to ensuring Jim’s T&C engineers would come together as a trusted and enthusiastic team and finally to the actual successful delivery of a number of key systems and rolling stock tests in recent days and weeks, a lot has happened since our eminent colleague joined the project 6 months ago on behalf of 3ECO.

From the feedback we have received recently we are honoured to say that 3ECO’s contribution has made a notable difference to the project outcome as well as to its people. Not only the testing has progressed satisfyingly well and is now complete but Jim’s young team of engineers, fondly renamed as the ‘three amigos’, have learnt a great deal from his unparalleled rail and rolling stock testing experience during their time with him. And it certainly is the later we are most proud of.

3ECO Legacy Ambitions

Although 3ECO is first and foremost known for its ‘Excellence in delivery’ it is in supporting the passing of knowledge to the younger generation, young engineers and technicians that understand how much they can benefit from the priceless experience of senior peers, that we take most pride. As 3ECO growths steadily we intend to commit a significant part of our company resources to training youngsters taking on apprentices and offering internships where it is possible to do so. We hope to be able to reach our objectives by 2021.

Birmingham Tram Systems Delivered Ahead of Schedule !

Now that the announcement has been made officially just before the Christmas holiday that the Birmingham city centre tram extension has opened to passengers ahead of schedule we are certain to celebrate the successful completion of these works soon.