TONY MILES CHARTS THE HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM’S CROSS CITY LINE AS IT REACHES ITS 40TH ANNIVERSARY AND OUTLINES PLANS TO REBUILD UNIVERSITY STATION
Since its inception in 1978 the Birmingham Cross City line has regularly seen passenger growth that has far exceeded expectations. The need for a cross-city rail service, and particularly an improved service to the south of Birmingham with new stations, had been highlighted by the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) in 1972. At that point just four trains a day ran between Birmingham and Redditch, purely to serve commuters, with very rudimentary station facilities provided.
GENESIS
The project for the Cross City line was given the go-ahead in 1975 with a budget of just £7.4 million, the equivalent of almost £60 million in today’s money. It extended the existing service from Four Oaks to Birmingham New Street through to Longbridge, with a reopened station at Five Ways and new stations at the University of Birmingham and Longbridge.
Most of the other stations on the southern part of the route were rebuilt, signalling and junctions were improved and work at Birmingham New Street brought platform 12 into full time use to provide capacity for the additional trains.
