West Midlands Rail has announced that passengers at Bromsgrove station will have up to three additional trains per hour to Birmingham from next week.
The extra trains are thanks to electrification work on the line being completed.
From Sunday 29th July 2018, West Midlands Railway train services on the Cross City line that current start and finish their journey at Longbridge will operate to and from Bromsgrove.
This will, therefore, provide additional services at the station and also a full electric service from Bromsgrove to Lichfield.
The extra trains mean that there is a massive boost in train services a day from Bromsgrove. The station will now see 132 trains a day on weekdays (up from 45).
Network Rail has invested £100m in the work to allow the electric trains to run. The new overhead electric wires were switched on in May 2018. This allowed the first trains to start test runs on the route.
What did the officials say?
Cllr Roger Lawrence, chair of West Midlands Rail Executive and transport lead on the West Midlands Combined Authority, said:
“Electrification and the extra trains for Bromsgrove mark the latest stage in a 40-year journey for the Cross City Line during which time our local transport authority has worked tirelessly with partners to transform the route into the region's busiest commuter line, relied on by thousands of people every day.
“It now means Bromsgrove will get the same sort of high frequency service enjoyed by the rest of the Cross City Line and that's good for the regional economy as well as for passengers. Together with the new franchise improvements, it shows the value of local investment and of moving responsibility for the regional network from Whitehall to the West Midlands.”
Richard Brooks, customer experience director at West Midlands Railway added:
“Our customers in Bromsgrove will benefit immensely from these new services – with far more choice of when and where they can travel. Not only are we offering more trains to and from central Birmingham, but also to many other destinations on our network that were previously not served directly from Bromsgrove.”
Rail Minister Jo Johnson said:
“We are investing in the most significant upgrade of the rail network since Victorian times, delivering more trains, a greater number of services and more comfortable journeys for passengers. The completion of this project demonstrates the benefits of our £1bn investment in the region's railways, with a significant increase in the number of trains into central Birmingham during peak times.”
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The electrification to Bromsgrove could of extended to Stourbridge Junction.
As West Midlands Railway are ordering the Class 730 Aventra EMU and Class 196 Civity DMU units. They could use the Class 350/2’s on Bromsgrove services and other suburban services in the Birmingham area.
And to transfer the Class 323’s to Northern as Northern wants extra trains to boost capacity right across its network as they should keep their Class 323’s but inherit the Class 323’s from West Midlands Trains. Aswell new Class 331’s & Class 195’s being ordered for Northern.