Dudley Freightliner Terminal
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Dudley Freightliner Terminal was opened on the site of Dudley railway station in October 1967, as one of Freightliner's first rail terminals. It was an instant financial success and by 1981 was one of the most profitable freightliner terminals in Britain, but Freightliner UK announced plans to close it and transfer the staff to the less successful Birmingham terminal. These plans were shelved in 1983 but resurfaced in 1986, with the terminal finally closing in September 1989. Trains passed through the site of the freightliner terminal until the Wednesbury to Round Oak section of the South Staffordshire Line closed in 1993.
The freightliner equipment was removed in about 1990 and the site of the former terminal is now little more than an overgrown field, though the concrete surface remains in place. There were plans for a waste reception to be developed on the site in 1997, but these were quickly shelved. There have also been plans for housing and even a new football stadium to be built on the site.
The Midland Metro is expected to open on the adjoining track in 2011, with trams leaving the traditional line near the former terminal site and passing through Dudley town centre before rejoining the line at the north mouth of the Dudley Railway Tunnel. One track on the line is also expected to re-open to goods trains, and part of the terminal site will be occupied by an expansion to Dudley Zoo.