Rail minister Huw Merriman MP takes a ride on the Coventry Very Light Rail train at the Very Light Rail National Innovation Centre in Dudley
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00:00 Shame that people see the vehicle as a sexy bit, because for me the interest is the bit that's in the ground.
00:06 Well, normal metro or rail you have to go two, three feet down don't you?
00:12 This only has to go what, 300mm?
00:14 300mm.
00:15 That's nothing.
00:16 I mean, when we plane the road to resurface it we can go down 300mm.
00:20 There shouldn't be any utilities there.
00:22 That's not to say there won't be.
00:24 It begs the question why people have been going that far down.
00:27 Because they've been running much heavier vehicles.
00:30 We've chosen a smaller vehicle.
00:33 The reason is that we want this to be able to fit into existing towns and cities where the streets might be narrower.
00:39 We don't want to scare the horses.
00:41 Because I did a lot of public consultation when I was working on Midland Metro and people were very afraid of the vehicle's size.
00:48 And the appearance of it.
00:51 This is actually smaller than a double decker bus.
00:53 Do you want to stop here or stop here on the way back?
00:55 [HORN HONKS]
00:57 So this is coming up to the 15m radius.
01:02 Which should mean you can get around most corners in a town and city without land take or demolition.
01:07 That's quite crucial.
01:10 As I say, I think for me now, personally, it's really important to prove this in practice in Coventry.
01:17 Our politicians, to be fair, are sneaking reputations on this.
01:23 And when did you say the Coventry commencement will be?
01:28 Well, hopefully, we'll start putting the tracks in this autumn.
01:32 That's the aim. And I'd like to think the tracks will be in by Christmas.
01:35 The vehicle will have done its testing at Dudley and will be ready to move over at the end of the year for commencement of operations in January.
01:44 And how extensive will the track be?
01:47 800m. So it's double track.
01:50 So if you know Coventry at all, it will start outside the railway station and run down to the former IKEA store in the city centre.
01:58 I know it's not a particularly sexy part of the visit here coming round.
02:05 I think the issue is such a sharp bend.
02:09 It is very sharp.
02:10 That what we're saying is key to enable the deployment there for afterwards in cities.
02:16 Ordinary metro or light rails wouldn't be able to do the sort of sharp bend that we've done now.