Railwatch 081 - October 1999

Midlands

By Alan Bevan

Virgin buses From May Stagecoach began running Virgin-branded bus-rail links. Two routes in the Midlands are Stratford on Avon-Coventry and Bromsgrove-Redditch-Birmingham International with bus tickets at £4.50 and £3 respectively. At Birmingham International a new high-capacity lift is being installed between the station concourse and entrance. New Virgin business lounges are being provided at Coventry and Stoke on Trent.

Dudley lines Assurances are being sought from Centro and Railtrack that operation of a Midland Metro to Merry Hill on a track sharing basis will still enable 'heavy' rail services to operate without delay or difficulty. Such joint running is planned in Sunderland with trains every 10 minutes while the Midland Metro scheme is for an intensive six-minute fre-quency with four flat crossings.

Banker's return After a three-year absence regular banking has resumed on the 1 in 37 Lickey Incline. Heavier and more frequent trains have prompted EWSR. to stable a Class 58 locomotive at Bromsgrove to assist two or three trains per night.

Whitlocks reopens The £800,000 total rebuild of Whitlocks End station was completed in June and formally reopened by Julie Kirkbride MP and Dick Fearn, managing director of Railtrack Midlands.

Money bids Among its bids for Government approval of projects starting in 2000/01, the provisional Local Transport Plan for the West Midlands includes the £7.6 million NIA/ICC railway station; the £103 million Merry Hill-Wednesbury Metro extension; the £57m Birmingham City Centre Tramway, a £3 million link between Snow Hill rail and coach stations and a £2 million Coventry rail station to city centre people mover. For starts in 2001/02 the draft programme indicates the £36 million Walsall-Rugeley electrification scheme; an £8 million Brinsford park and ride rail station (North of Wolverhampton); and a new £1.3 million station at Willenhall in Walsall.

Cross Country Plans by Virgin Cross-Country for new tilting train services in 2003 show dramatic increases in frequency as well as journey times. With more trains being run by Virgin West Coast, EWSR and other operators there will be track capacity problems on the Castle Bromwich and the Birmingham International routes which respectively call for reopening of the Brownhills line and quad-rupling of the Berkswell-Stechford line. The theoretical and very fallible 'timetable solution' just will not do.

Local users A count of local passengers at five main Birmingham stations has revealed an 8% increase between November 1997 and November 1998.. The route to Walsall recorded an increase of 20% in passengers.

Warwick Parkway This £3.5 million project has been put on hold following a Government decision not to make a contribution. Chiltern Railways as promoters are understandably now seeking to secure an extension of their franchise before commiting themselves to funding this major scheme.

Moor Street The disused terminus station is to be refurbished by Hammersons, developers of the adjacent Bull Ring shopping area and it is understood that Central Railways are seriously considering operating its London services from the Moor St terminus where worn out tracks will need renewing. At the same time Railtrack is understood to be investigating suggestions for extending the Tyseley-Bordesley fast lines towards Moor St to increase speeds, capacity and operating flexibility.

Proof House lines RDS and other parties made vigorous efforts over the past year to gain an extra pair of tracks built between Proof House Junction and New St station to provide essential extra capacity for an expected 75% increase in the number of trains using the eastern approaches. The scheme envisaged a third tunnel alongside and south of the existing twin tunnels which run under the St Martins Queensway. Redevelopment of the Bull Ring area would enable a 'trough' to be easily created for the cut and cover tunnel. However reluctance by Railtrack and pressure to approve the Bull Ring scheme combined to close this window of opportunity. Extensive lobbying was undertaken and it seems the strategic need for extra tracks was increasingly accepted. Alas the high cost factor also added to the project's difficulties and approval now given for the new road layout and redevelopment rules out the prospect of any extra tracks being provided for the next 50 years.

Kenilworth A local train service for Kenilworth is now under threat from too many trains using the 10 mile Coventry-Leamington line. Being mostly single track, train paths via Kenilworth are somewhat lim-ited and Cross Country Trains plans to saturate the route with some 32 trains a day. Thus the logical extension of Central Trains Nottingham-Coventry services via Kenilworth to Leamington could be prejudiced, unless Railtrack agrees to provide double tracks at least over the four-mile southern section. This needs to be undertaken irrespective of quadrupling the Birmingham International route. Railtrack has suggested the Nottingham-Coventry trains terminate at a new but remotely located platform beyond the western extremities of Coventry station, but this is not at all favoured by Central Trains and we believe the money would be far better spent on a new Kenilworth station. With one extra diesel unit an hourly Coventry-Kenilworth-Leamington Spa service could operate 24 trains a day to benefit not least the 25,000 population of Kenilworth and afford a useful new cross-country link with the East Midlands. An eight-minute train trip between Kenilworth and Coventry compares favourably with the 30-minute bus journey.

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