I tried coming up with the most reasonable way of getting all local services out of Birmingham New Street, freeing it up to run regional and intercity services more reliably. I came up with the following network, aiming to minimise the amount of tunnelling and the number of underground stations:
- Quadruple the track from Wolverhampton to Soho South Junction, from Bescot Stadium to Perry Barr North Junction, from Landor Street Junction to Water Orton East Junction, from University to King's Norton, and from Adderley Park to Rugby
- Build two tunnelled railways under Birmingham City Centre, from Soho South Junction to Adderley Park and from Church Road Junction to Duddeston
- Build three new underground stations: a Birmingham Central underground station with cross-platform interchange between the two underground lines and direct interchange with New Street, Moor Street, and Curzon Street, a Five Ways replacement station and a Ladywood station
- Expand the following stations with additional platforms and turnbacks to support terminating more services: Wolverhampton, Rugeley Trent Valley, Lichfield Trent Valley, Tamworth, Nuneaton, Coventry East (proposed), King's Norton, and Bromsgrove.
This builds on the Midland Rail Hub proposals to expand Moor Street station. It ought to leave most of the capacity on the existing lines free for new services, especially Birmingham New Street. In particular, it could support more Thameslink-style outer commuter services, such as Stafford-Rugby, Shrewsbury-Leicester, and Worcester-Derby.
Junctions such as Aston North, Water Orton East, Barnt Green and Soho South can be grade separated as necessary to increase service capacity.
- Quadruple the track from Wolverhampton to Soho South Junction, from Bescot Stadium to Perry Barr North Junction, from Landor Street Junction to Water Orton East Junction, from University to King's Norton, and from Adderley Park to Rugby
- Build two tunnelled railways under Birmingham City Centre, from Soho South Junction to Adderley Park and from Church Road Junction to Duddeston
- Build three new underground stations: a Birmingham Central underground station with cross-platform interchange between the two underground lines and direct interchange with New Street, Moor Street, and Curzon Street, a Five Ways replacement station and a Ladywood station
- Expand the following stations with additional platforms and turnbacks to support terminating more services: Wolverhampton, Rugeley Trent Valley, Lichfield Trent Valley, Tamworth, Nuneaton, Coventry East (proposed), King's Norton, and Bromsgrove.
This builds on the Midland Rail Hub proposals to expand Moor Street station. It ought to leave most of the capacity on the existing lines free for new services, especially Birmingham New Street. In particular, it could support more Thameslink-style outer commuter services, such as Stafford-Rugby, Shrewsbury-Leicester, and Worcester-Derby.
Junctions such as Aston North, Water Orton East, Barnt Green and Soho South can be grade separated as necessary to increase service capacity.
