Small told the council’s business, economy and enterprise scrutiny board that it was great to see things happening after seven or eight years of research and development behind closed doors.
She confirmed the authority was in talks with other councils about the technology, including with a group from Canada in the past week.
The meeting also heard from Colin Knight, the director of innovation at the council, who said an important factor to bear in mind was the universal slab, the section containing the track elements, was easier to install than other systems and was technology owned by the city council.
“I’m sure most of us can remember Broad Street in Birmingham which was closed for around four years. What we are talking about is measuring disruption in weeks, not years, and that is a critical point which makes it more affordable so that it can be adopted in many more towns and cities.
“There is so much opportunity with this and we need to make sure we capitalise on it.”
