The Birmingham neighbourhoods in line for extra rail services - becoming unlikely benefactors of HS2

Rail usage by passengers has increased in Birmingham and the West Midlands - and Midlands Rail Hub is set to add another 14 million seats, despite the setbacks with the cancelling of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester.

The hub includes huge flagship plans including bringing South West Trains and Welsh Trains into Birmingham Moor Street and thereby increasing capacity at Birmingham New Street costing between £900m and £1.5bn.

In addition to these plans for services in Birmingham city centre are additional schemes that are set to benefit a number of Birmingham neighbourhoods. This includes:

• Kings Norton to Barnt Green line - improving services, including the reopening of platforms 2 & 3 at Kings Norton Railway Station.
• Extending the Camp Hill line to Longbridge and Northfield to increase frequency of trains.
• Cross City Line to see six trains an hour running once more
• Reopening Castle Bromwich Railway Station - to increase the access to rail services for residents of Castle Vale, Pype Hayes and Castle Bromwich
• Reopening Tamworth line to north Birmingham
• Sutton Park Line to receive new services

The announcements come as work continues to reopen three stations on the Camp Hill Line which haven’t been in operation since World War II - namely, Pineapple Road at Stirchley, Kings Heath and Moseley.

Conservative Mayor Andy Street and the local Birmingham Conservative Party have all praised the schemes, with Andy Street saying: “More brilliant news for residents of South Brum - alongside the reopening of stations.”

Cllr Timothy Huxtable (Con, Hall Green South), Shadow Cabinet Member for Transport, commented: “Midlands Rail Hub is a game-changing scheme for Birmingham. It will bring many benefits to Birmingham residents and businesses – whether it’s connecting millions more people to the HS2 network; creating space for more local journeys, stations, and rail lines; or opening faster and more frequent rail links for commuters as well as business and leisure travellers.”

He continued, “The Midlands Rail Hub will also enable a raft of local improvements including restoration of the full six train per hour service on Birmingham’s Cross City Line, faster journeys into Birmingham from the new Camp Hill line stations at Moseley Village, Kings Heath, and Pineapple Road, and the upgrading of stations at both Snow Hill and Kings Norton.”

Cllr Huxtable concluded, “And crucially, Midlands Rail Hub provides the additional rail network capacity that will be required to support further expansion of the regional rail network including new stations and new services on routes such as the Sutton Park Line.”

Cllr Robert Alden, Leader of the Opposition and Birmingham Local Conservatives, added “Reopening the Tamworth line to the north of the city is vital to improving the public transport offered to residents in Pype Hayes, Castle Vale and the surrounding areas. The delivery of the Midlands Rail Hub should help to make this a reality.”