Eco-friendly tram celebrates 200,000th passenger (From Stourbridge News)

Eco-friendly tram celebrates 200,000th passenger

11:59am Tuesday 15th December 2009 in News

STOURBRIDGE’S revolutionary gas powered tram has celebrated transporting 200,000 passengers.

Gloria Buckingham from Pedmore became the 200,000th person to travel on the Parry People Mover - which runs between Stourbridge Town and Stourbridge Junction.

The milestone, calculated by National Rail, occured last Thursday (December 10) - and Mrs Buckingham, accompanied by her husband Grenville (the 200,001st passenger), was presented with a commemorative certificate and box of chocolates by Stourbridge MP Lynda Waltho on Saturday (December 12).

MP Lynda, who launched the service in June ths year, congratulated inventor John Parry of Cradley Heath based Parry Associates, adding: “It's a great achievement.

“It doesn’t seem two minutes, let alone 200,000 passengers since we were on the railway for the inaugural journey of the Parry People Mover; 200,000 is a landmark the manufacturers and operators of this local, innovative train can be very proud of.

“Its official title might well be the Class 139 LPG powered light rail vehicle but to everyone local to this area it is the Parry People Mover and I’m sure we’ll see it more and more round the country; and people will recognise Stourbridge as the starting point for state-of-the-art, low carbon technology that’s leading the way.”

The eco-friendly tram could soon be up and running in America - having been selected by Tidewater Developments to form part of a new development on the southern Georgia coast, reminiscent of a traditional style town before cars and highways began to dominate.

The ultra light rail car has also been proposed for Blaye-Saint Mariens railway in south west France and as a solution to reinstate a line between Buckinghamshire’s High Wycombe-Maidenhead in Berkshire.