Severn Valley Railway to trial commuter services

[dk1]

Sounds like a good idea and I do sincerely hope it’s successful although I have my doubts.

 

[peteb]

I'm going to attempt to travel Kidderminster to Bewdley and return tomorrow morning. I'll report back on if/how/where I managed to buy a ticket!!!!

However it seems as though tickets won't be available from Kidderminster to Bewdley on the return leg of the morning services, certainly WM trains website doesn't say you can.

 

[P Binnersley]

Acording to the West Midlands Railway wesite site FAQ you can buy tickets at Kidderminster (WMR) station.

Tickets can also be purchased from West Midlands Railway ticket offices, including Kidderminster and Birmingham Snow Hill.

Somebody on facebook has already brought a Bewdley to Stourbridge Junction ticket at Worcester Shrub Hill.

 

[peteb]

Just to update, 01/09/2026 first morning trains ran to time. Press presence including BBC TV and radio, Rail Magazine, Geoff Marshall etc.

Inaugural 0640am train well loaded with passengers for various destinations.

Purchase of ticket no problem at Kidderminster booking office. Anytime day return Kidderminster to Bewdley £2.35 with senior Railcard.

Trains ARE returning to Bewdley in passenger service so useful for early birds wanting to get to Bewdley by 0725 or 0825am.

Hopefully, as holidays draw to a close, kids go back to school and roads will be much busier, more people will try this trial service.

 

[Northerngirl]

Ive not been following this very much, just curious do you still have to go from the heritage station at Kidderminster or is it directly from the mainline, and is it possible to do the journey just on a west mids day ticket or is it a different fare

 

[Rail Ranger]

You have to walk between the two stations in Kidderminster.

 

[peteb]

Ive not been following this very much, just curious do you still have to go from the heritage station at Kidderminster or is it directly from the mainline, and is it possible to do the journey just on a west mids day ticket or is it a different fare

It's outside the West Midlands Fare Zones which go up to Stourbridge Junction. However I believe there is still a West Midlands Day Ranger available, valid to places like Stratford and Worcester so it'd fall within that area boundary. Also someone today was on an all line rover and that was accepted ok.

 

[cats_five]

You have to walk between the two stations in Kidderminster.

And it will take you a minute or two - they are right next to each other.

 

[peteb]

And it will take you a minute or two - they are right next to each other.

Nice little cafe run by the SVR has opened early mornings just outside the SVR station entrance adjacent to its booking hall. So allow a few minutes to visit that. The kiosk space on the Network Rail station remains empty.........

Videos are starting to appear on YouTube.

 

[Forty29]

Been looking forward to watch them got up to late to watch on cameras!

 

[em81]

I'm curious what happens if there's a problem with the heritage line, would WMT arrange a replacement bus service?

 

[alistairlees]

I'm curious what happens if there's a problem with the heritage line, would WMT arrange a replacement bus service?

Why? They don’t run the SVR.

 

[em81]

Why? They don’t run the SVR.

If they're selling National Rail tickets then don't National Rail conditions for replacement road transport apply? WMT would have contracts in place for bus replacements.

 

[alistairlees]

Selling tickets is not the same as operator obligations. Many organisations are selling tickets for this (or would be, if there had not been data issues). WMT. Are the fare setter, of course. But I don’t think that obligated them to provide replacement transport for another operator. It could look good politically, though, if it is needed.

 

[peteb]

WMR is chartering the trains from the SVR, I believe, so I'd think they'd have a contingency plan in place in the event of railway related disruption.

 

[PP57601]

I’d have thought the SVR would be more reliable than WMR

 

[overthere 2]

But this solution assumes the SVR would be willing to be locked out of their own system whilst WMR trains are using it. It might work for the early morning services but would probably cause havoc on a normal running day late afternoon/early evening.

One option might be that if the thing the SVR want to do is not suitable to double up as the commuter service then the SVR thing runs between Bewdley - Bridgnorth and the commuter service runs between Bewdley - Kidderminster.

For other railway's WSR, Swanage, KWVR etc if they decide to copy the SVR then maybe on one day of the week the late afternoon/evening commuter service could be replaced by a bus so the heritage railway can do whatever.

Really though what it boils down to is that virtually all railways are having appeals pretty much constantly and with mounting costs and a struggle for volunteer's the management and volunteers need to ask themselves: "Do we want to be able to potentially play with are railway 24/7 by putting on money making events and if they are successful then all is well and good but if we have a string of unsuccessful events then it could potentially mean the railway goes bust", so no railway at all.

Or

"Do we restrict ourselves to running between 10 and 1700 only" but know at the end of each month we get a nice fat cheque from either rent of tracks/stations etc or cut of the tickets sold that means the railway is virtually guaranteed to survive.

I know what I would choose.

According to the Stourbridge Lines User Group, WMR have told them that tickets should be available next week.

I went on to the Stourbridge Lines User Group Facebook page and one of the posts said that West Midlands Railway has created a page on its website promoting the trial service. So I went to the WMR website expecting that it would be a "sticky" on its front page to encourage custom, but nothing. I then searched "Bewdley" and found three story's about the trial:

The first and oldest one fully explains the whole thing thoroughly which is good, see link: https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/travel-information/whats-new/bewdley-express-trial

The next one only explains about the morning service so if you are unfamiliar/nervous about using the train you will assume that the service runs morning only so you won't be able to get home again so you might not use it, see link: https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/train-times/trains-from-bewdley-to-birmingham

The latest one is even worse because even though it explains about the evening service there are potentially serious mistakes.

First of all the title of the first paragraph says Birmingham - Bewdley which is correct but when you go down to the timetable paragraph it says Bewdley - Birmingham so again if you are unfamiliar/nervous about using the train then it might put you off but the really worrying thing is it explicitly explains that in the morning you will have to change at Kidderminster but in the evening it makes it sound like the train runs all the way through with via Kidderminster being somewhere you pass through NOT change at, see link: https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/train-times/trains-from-birmingham-to-bewdley

Therefore, you potentially have passengers missing the train because they are looking for Bewdley not Kidderminster on departure screens.





P.S. - Do any forum members live in Bewdley or the surrounding area or have got family, friends or work colleagues that do and are not rail enthusiasts? Because what I want to know is how much publicity people have seen about this service from NON rail enthusiast sources because while I have no problem with rail enthusiasts using this service as a one off to say: "I've been on it" the only way this trial will be successful and hopefully lead to a full-time service is if the locals use it regularly.

 

[em81]

Selling tickets is not the same as operator obligations. Many organisations are selling tickets for this (or would be, if there had not been data issues). WMT. Are the fare setter, of course. But I don’t think that obligated them to provide replacement transport for another operator. It could look good politically, though, if it is needed.

I would be surprised if a heritage railway agreed to be financially responsible for things like Delay Repay and replacement road services. The news report mentioned the first service being driven by a retired mainline driver who is now a volunteer at the heritage railway.

The arrangement is a bit different to selling Plusbus or through tickets to Metrolink zones.

 

[peteb]

One option might be that if the thing the SVR want to do is not suitable to double up as the commuter service then the SVR thing runs between Bewdley - Bridgnorth and the commuter service runs between Bewdley - Kidderminster.

For other railway's WSR, Swanage, KWVR etc if they decide to copy the SVR then maybe on one day of the week the late afternoon/evening commuter service could be replaced by a bus so the heritage railway can do whatever.

Really though what it boils down to is that virtually all railways are having appeals pretty much constantly and with mounting costs and a struggle for volunteer's the management and volunteers need to ask themselves: "Do we want to be able to potentially play with are railway 24/7 by putting on money making events and if they are successful then all is well and good but if we have a string of unsuccessful events then it could potentially mean the railway goes bust", so no railway at all.

Or

"Do we restrict ourselves to running between 10 and 1700 only" but know at the end of each month we get a nice fat cheque from either rent of tracks/stations etc or cut of the tickets sold that means the railway is virtually guaranteed to survive.

I know what I would choose.






I went on to the Stourbridge Lines User Group Facebook page and one of the posts said that West Midlands Railway has created a page on its website promoting the trial service. So I went to the WMR website expecting that it would be a "sticky" on its front page to encourage custom, but nothing. I then searched "Bewdley" and found three story's about the trial:

The first and oldest one fully explains the whole thing thoroughly which is good, see link: https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/travel-information/whats-new/bewdley-express-trial

The next one only explains about the morning service so if you are unfamiliar/nervous about using the train you will assume that the service runs morning only so you won't be able to get home again so you might not use it, see link: https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/train-times/trains-from-bewdley-to-birmingham

The latest one is even worse because even though it explains about the evening service there are potentially serious mistakes.

First of all the title of the first paragraph says Birmingham - Bewdley which is correct but when you go down to the timetable paragraph it says Bewdley - Birmingham so again if you are unfamiliar/nervous about using the train then it might put you off but the really worrying thing is it explicitly explains that in the morning you will have to change at Kidderminster but in the evening it makes it sound like the train runs all the way through with via Kidderminster being somewhere you pass through NOT change at, see link: https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/train-times/trains-from-birmingham-to-bewdley

Therefore, you potentially have passengers missing the train because they are looking for Bewdley not Kidderminster on departure screens.





P.S. - Do any forum members live in Bewdley or the surrounding area or have got family, friends or work colleagues that do and are not rail enthusiasts? Because what I want to know is how much publicity people have seen about this service from NON rail enthusiast sources because while I have no problem with rail enthusiasts using this service as a one off to say: "I've been on it" the only way this trial will be successful and hopefully lead to a full-time service is if the locals use it regularly.

The article on BBC 1 Midlands Today broadcast 6.30pm 1st September 2026 featured interviews with genuine commuters from Bewdley heading towards Birmingham on the first trial service train. There's a link on BBC iplayer but I cannot access iPlayer on my devices (except TV) at present to attach the link. Perhaps someone could attach it please?

 

[30907]

"Do we restrict ourselves to running between 10 and 1700 only"

Not exactly unusual for an heritage line

The next one only explains about the morning service so if you are unfamiliar/nervous about using the train you will assume that the service runs morning only so you won't be able to get home again so you might not use it, see link: https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/train-times/trains-from-bewdley-to-birmingham

And gives you a link to the reverse direction - it's just how their site works I assume

The latest one is even worse because even though it explains about the evening service there are potentially serious mistakes.

First of all the title of the first paragraph says Birmingham - Bewdley which is correct but when you go down to the timetable paragraph it says Bewdley - Birmingham so again if you are unfamiliar/nervous about using the train then it might put you off but the really worrying thing is it explicitly explains that in the morning you will have to change at Kidderminster but in the evening it makes it sound like the train runs all the way through with via Kidderminster being somewhere you pass through NOT change at, see link: https://www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk/train-times/trains-from-birmingham-to-bewdley

There is one wrong reference, but before that there is clear info about the journey with the change, just as for the morning

 

[P Binnersley]

The article on BBC 1 Midlands Today broadcast 6.30pm 1st September 2026 featured interviews with genuine commuters from Bewdley heading towards Birmingham on the first trial service train. There's a link on BBC iplayer but I cannot access iPlayer on my devices (except TV) at present to attach the link. Perhaps someone could attach it please?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0031260/midlands-today-evening-news-01092026 (expires 18:59 this evening).
SVR starts at 07:18.

 

[dvboy]

Trains ARE returning to Bewdley in passenger service so useful for early birds wanting to get to Bewdley by 0725 or 0825am.

Does anyone have the full timetable? I can't find it anywhere.

Also I note that there is an off-peak day return available according to BRFares, but since it's not valid before 0900 it is pointless.

 

[P Binnersley]

The DMU Group (West Midlands) have a timetable on their facebook page.

 

[dvboy]

The DMU Group (West Midlands) have a timetable on their facebook page.

Unless I'm missing something in the comments that I can't see as I'm not a Facebook user, that only has the times and connections for Bewdley to Kidderminster in the morning and Kidderminster to Bewdley in the evening, and not the full timetable with the reverse workings.

 

[P Binnersley]

The return workings are on Real Time Trains. Journey time is 13 minutes.

 

[dvboy]

The return workings are on Real Time Trains. Journey time is 13 minutes.

Lovely, thanks

 

[PP57601]

The return workings are on Real Time Trains. Journey time is 13 minutes.

Pity that RTT doesn’t show the heritage DMU stock being used on the Bewdley shuttles (as it does for the Swanage Railway services).

 

[Belperpete]

If they're selling National Rail tickets then don't National Rail conditions for replacement road transport apply? WMT would have contracts in place for bus replacements.

This isn't the first case of National Rail tickets including travel on a heritage railway. Or other non-National Rail transport providers. Good luck with getting replacement road transport if there are problems with the Isle of Wight ferry.

 

[bluegoblin7]

Pity that RTT doesn’t show the heritage DMU stock being used on the Bewdley shuttles (as it does for the Swanage Railway services).

As I understand it Swanage have explicitly signed up for the Realtime Heritage service and have additional kit fitted to their trains to allow services to report in this way. I'm sure if the Severn Valley approached RTT there would be a way to make it happen, but otherwise it's the same as how no other heritage lines appear on RTT.

 

[em81]

This isn't the first case of National Rail tickets including travel on a heritage railway. Or other non-National Rail transport providers. Good luck with getting replacement road transport if there are problems with the Isle of Wight ferry.

Ferries and coaches have specific legislation covering cancellations and leaving people stranded.