Rail system's first route could be to airport zone

The first route for the Coventry Very Light Rail (VLR) system could launch with a different route than originally planned.

Jim O'Boyle, cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change at Coventry City Council, said a link to an investment zone at Coventry Airport had been identified.

A connection with University Hospital in Walsgrave had originally been proposed as "line one".

But O'Boyle said the business case for a VLR route to the airport site made "far more sense".

Other lines in the proposed network would link the city centre with Warwick University to the south-west, Coventry Arena to the north, and the hospital to the east.

O'Boyle said these routes were still planned "over time", and a total of four routes had always been proposed.

He confirmed revising the first route was linked to efforts to spur investment at the Baginton site – an investment zone at the airport that was launched last year.

"We think it's prudent to factor that in and consider that as a better first route," he said.

There are hopes for thousands of jobs in battery industries to be created at the site.

The VLR transport system is a collaboration between multiple groups in the region including the council, and has been developed over the past eight years.

However, the system, including a battery-powered vehicle and an ultra-thin track, has not yet been tested in a live city environment.

That is set to change when a 220-metre test track is built near Coventry railway station on Greyfriars Road and Queen Victoria Road.

The test route would be built by spring and the vehicle would be in operation for four weeks, before more innovation took place, O'Boyle said.

Data from testing must also be analysed.

O'Boyle said overall timescales for delivery were out of the council's control and in the remit of the Department for Transport, but added: "Everything they ask us to do we have done and the system's passing with flying colours."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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