 FOR sale 16 trams. All of them used, repaired dozens of times, and described by their owners as "rubbish". Yes, 16 Midland Metro trams are to be dumped just six years after the system was launched. Centro is planning to replace the troubled trams built by Italian firm Ansaldo Transporti and buy in a new fleet at a cost of £72 million. Centro hopes to sell the old ones on the second hand transport market. The new trams would run on an expanded Midland Metro system including a new route through Birmingham city centre from Snow Hill to Five Ways and in the Black Country through Wednesbury and Brierley Hill. The news was revealed as the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority gave the green light to network expansion plans. The cost of the controversial scheme for the two new lines has risen by 74 per cent. The bill for the Birmingham city centre and the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill lines has leapt from an estimated £212 million in 2002 to £369 million by the time they are completed in 2011. Three quarters of the cash will come from the Government and 25 per cent locally. To gain Government cash the scheme has to meet a business case and Centro is confident the plans will succeed. As part of the scheme Centro wants a brand new fleet of trams because the older Ansaldo Transporti models have been dogged by unreliability and poor build quality. The trams have been a figure of fun - described publicly by operator Midland Metro, which owns them, as "rubbish" and having wiring like "plates of spaghetti". Horrified bosses had discovered each tram was built to a different design, and currently one tram has been taken out of service to be cannibalised for spare parts. A spokesman for Centro said: "The initial cost of the Metro scheme was £45 million and the trams would have been included in that. The new fleet of 40 trams would cost £1.78 million each. "There is a second hand market for trams and this has been factored into the figures." * Have your say on this story at www.icbirmingham.co.uk/mail/news/yoursay | 
