News Front
FOUR TRACKS FROM WOLVERHAMPTON TO COVENTRY A POSSIBILITY
ENHANCEMENTS THAT could deliver a £540 million boost to the West Midlands economy have been unveiled in the West Midlands Rail Executive’s 30-year Rail Investment Strategy.
The strategy sets out a series of staged enhancements based around ive key dates. By 2025 improvements delivered through the current West Midlands franchise will take efect, followed two years later by the planned completion of Phases 1 and 2a of HS2. The Midlands Rail Hub project, ofering 10 new train paths per hour through Birmingham, is targeted for delivery by 2032, followed two years later by the inal Phase 2b of HS2. The remaining ambitions represent WMRE’s long-term aims through to 2047. Shorter-term ‘quick wins’ in the current franchise include:
■ more cross-Birmingham services linking Staford, Walsall and Rugeley to the Coventry corridor;
■ a new Walsall to Wolverhampton service with new stations at Willenhall and Darlaston;
■ new services on the Camp Hill line with new stations at Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell;
■ a direct Leamington to Nuneaton service via Coventry;
■ improved frequencies on the Chase and Shrewsbury lines;
■ introduction of weekday frequencies on Sundays; and
■ upgrading of University and Birmingham Snow Hill stations alongside improvements at Perry Barr to support the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Some of these services changes were slated for this December but have been deferred due to the moratorium on timetable changes.
6-4-2
The next stage envisages frequency improvements at West Midlands stations based on the ‘6-4-2’ philosophy. This would provide six trains per hour (tph) for stations within the West Midlands urban area, 4tph for principal stations serving major towns or park and ride stations and 2tph for local stations. Earlier, later, overnight and expanded weekend services along with 24-hour access to Birmingham Airport are also envisaged, with this element delivered over the period from 2018 to 2047.
The Midlands Rail Hub project is led by Midlands Connect and would involve building new chords at Bordesley along with associated remodelling work to enable some services to divert from Birmingham New Street to Moor Street, providing increased capacity into the city. WMRE says it will work closely with Midlands Connect to scope and plan this scheme.
By 2032 WMRE also aims to develop high-growth corridors, with the highest priority attached to the Wolverhampton to Coventry corridor, chiely using capacity released by HS2. A further ambition by 2034 is to extend Cross City services north from Lichield over a newly-electriied route to Burton-on-Trent, with a new station at Alrewas.
The inal phase of ‘radical change’ to 2047 envisages investigation of ‘challenging and prospectively high-cost options’ such as four-tracking of the Wolverhampton to Coventry corridor and a new tunnel under central Birmingham. Developing new rail corridors and using Digital Railway technology are also suggested, along with a series of new stations on both new and existing routes.
The last element of the strategy concerns freight, particularly maximising shared beneits for passenger and freight services of capacity released by HS2, potentially including new freight terminals.
