Railwatch 079 - April 1999

Midlands

By Alan Bevan

Permissive workings The Railway Inspectorate ban on two trains per platform at Birmingham Snow Hill station has thankfully now been lifted. We hope the lost services can now be restored for both Chiltern and Central Trains.

Fares war With Virgin Trains hiking its fares above inflation and extending peak-time service restrictions on the New St-Euston run, its route-mate Silverlink County is promoting a welcome £13.90 day return any time after 8.30am. On the Snow Hill-Marylebone line, Chiltern Railways have now grabbed the headlines with an even better £10 day return piloted among students and the over 55s It's a great bargain compared to Virgin's £70 standard return!

No to ICC A bid for Government grants towards a £7.5million station next to Birmingham's International Convention Centre was unsuccessful.

Brownhills Following on from the MVA consultants' report favouring an express busway along the Walsall-Brownhills rail formation RDS produced its own appraisal report * in October which found evidence to reduce capital and operating costs for a rail service; detailed the justifications for reintroducing the trains; and tabled the financial and cost-benefit figures for options as to diesel/electric, leased/purchased, and Brownhills or Lichfield versions of hourly or half-hourly services. A four-page supplementary paper* has further demonstrated that the MVA forecast is a gross understatement of potential patronage. Using comparative catchment sizes and usage at similar West Midland stations we found that a volume three times bigger was much more likely. In November Walsall council arranged a local presentation where, interestingly, MVA did not argue for a busway and the audience made its strong support for rail very clear. It also became apparent that support for a Sustrans cycleway along the rail route was waning as this imposed extra physical and cost penalties on future rail reopening. On 22 December Walsall's highways and transportation committee accepted a four-page report which agreed to protect the route for rail and not a busway; to renegotiate a cycleway route with Sustrans; to ask Centro to include a rail reopening in its 20-year strategy; and to investigate a better case and funding for rail. The question as to whether EWSR will want to resume freight services over the Brownhills route remains outstanding. Other obstacles include temporary use of the formation for Ryders Hayes coal lorries up to mid-2001 and the need for Railtrack to regain ownership of the route.

* Copies of both RDS reports can be obtained for £1 post free from RDS, 38 Somerset Road, Walsall W54 2DP

West Coast route modernisation As part of the West Coast Route modernisation, a variety of changes and developments will be occurring around the Midlands. Railtrack is spending up to £10million on capacity improvements along the Coventry-Birmingham corridor and Proof House Junction is due to be remodelled by mid-2000. At Rugby a revised track layout is under consideration. In a joint scheme with Rugby borough council the station frontage has been improved and a new access ramp to the main car park installed. Television surveillance of the car park has been restored and extended to include the subway and platform ramps. At Nuneaton it is not certain whether the planned underpass will go ahead.

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