Midlands Rail Hub 20m extra seats

[Snow1964]

Just published (dated Monday 12th)
2 chords, 10 other interventions, 300 per day extra trains to Birmingham

The Midlands Rail Hub project would deliver 20 million extra seats a year for businesses, residents and commuters.

The Midlands Rail Hub proposes building two ‘chords’ and over 10 further engineering interventions throughout the region to deliver a massive step change in rail transport in the Midlands. This will see up to 300 extra trains traveling into or out of Birmingham every single day and will help create a ‘turn up and go’ service on the busy Cross City line.

Birmingham Moor Street will see 14.2 million extra seats and Birmingham New Street will gain an extra 5.4 million seats.

The Cross City line will see two extra trains, in each direction, per hour, which will create 5.4 million new seats each year. Redditch, Alvechurch and Barnt Green will see one extra train, in each direction, per hour and 2.7 million new seats for passengers, whilst Bromsgrove will see 4.7 million new seats. Lichfield will gain 5.4 million seats.

Nottingham, Hereford, Coleshill Parkway, Worcester, Hinckley, South Wigston, Droitwich Spa and Worcestershire Parkway will see at least 2 million new seats. Derby will see 4.1 million new seats.

Andy Clark, Head of Rail at Midlands Connect, said:

“The benefits of the Midlands Rail Hub will be felt by millions of people across the Midlands and beyond.

“Being able to run faster, more frequent services and deliver 20 million extra seats is the definition of a win-win project. The Midlands Rail Hub is our flagship project at Midlands Connect, and we are working to deliver massive benefits to all corners of the Midlands.”

The Midlands Rail Hub project is co-sponsored by Midlands Connect, the Department for Transport and West Midlands Rail Executive.

Midlands Connect - Midlands Rail Hub: Project will deliver 20 million extra seats

www.midlandsconnect.uk

 

[JonathanH]

Is this still just lobbying, or is there actually going to be money found for the improvements?

What is new in this announcement?

 

[Nova1]

Still just lobbying, nothing new to plans that have been floating around for ages now.

 

[The Planner]

Remember that a good 20% of that "up to" number is restoring the Cross City to previous levels.

 

[Merseysider]

The Cross City line will see two extra trains, in each direction, per hour

so back to how it used to be then!

 

[Zomboid]

I'm always a bit suspicious of these multiplied up numbers, as if "20 million extra seats" really means anything to an individual.
Why not go even harder and say "200m in a decade", or "2 billion a century"?

 

[ABB125]

Very interesting numbers in this bit:

The Cross City line will see two extra trains, in each direction, per hour, which will create 5.4 million new seats each year. Redditch, Alvechurch and Barnt Green will see one extra train, in each direction, per hour and 2.7 million new seats for passengers, whilst Bromsgrove will see 4.7 million new seats. Lichfield will gain 5.4 million seats

Presumably both Bromsgrove and Redditch will get one extra train per hour (so back to 2019!), which would imply they should get the same number of extra seats? Assuming that class 730 pairs run all services, as was planned when the fleet was ordered.

 

[JonathanH]

Presumably both Bromsgrove and Redditch will get one extra train per hour (so back to 2019!), which would imply they should get the same number of extra seats? Assuming that class 730 pairs run all services, as was planned when the fleet was ordered.

Is Bromsgrove also getting extra trains to Worcester, explaining the discrepancy?

 

[Llandudno]

Great plans, but most operators don’t have enough staff to run the current timetable!

Let’s get the basics right first before spending millions on consultants dreaming up some fantasy project that will never materialise due to lack of funds…!

 

[XCTurbostar]

At the end of the video he advises the viewer that in '5 Years time, Moor Street would look very different'. I find this hard to believe since I havent seen any evidence of Bordesley viaduct high level or feasibility studies. It may not even be suitable.

 

[The Planner]

Great plans, but most operators don’t have enough staff to run the current timetable!

Let’s get the basics right first before spending millions on consultants dreaming up some fantasy project that will never materialise due to lack of funds…!

At the end of the video he advises the viewer that in '5 Years time, Moor Street would look very different'. I find this hard to believe since I havent seen any evidence of Bordesley viaduct high level or feasibility studies. It may not even be suitable.

Ignoring the money aspect, NR have been leading all this, signalling plans etc all exist.

 

[Cross City]

dreaming up some fantasy project that will never materialise due to lack of funds

This is far more advanced than a "fantasy project".

 

[quantinghome]

Sounds good. Hopefully this would create enough capacity to split the Birmingham - Derby - Nottingham service into properly differentiated commuter and intercity services rather than the current XC jack of all trades, and also provide some more direct long distance journey options e.g. Nottingham - Bristol, Yorkshire - South Wales.

 

[2T57]

Is Bromsgrove also getting extra trains to Worcester, explaining the discrepancy?

It would make sense for there be more services between Worcester and Bromsgrove, especially as Bromsgrove is an interchange for Cross City/Hereford-Worcester passengers. However, a new 20.40 Hereford to New Street service (Mon-Fri from 19 May) doesn’t call at Bromsgrove which seems odd as virtually all other services do stop.

 

[Bald Rick]

Let’s get the basics right first before spending millions on consultants dreaming up some fantasy project that will never materialise due to lack of funds…!

It is essentially designed. Spending Review is next key decision point.

 

[Nottingham59]

Ignoring the money aspect, NR have been leading all this, signalling plans etc all exist.

Like they led at Botley Road bridge in Oxford? How much ground investigation has taken place so far?

 

[The Planner]

Like they led at Botley Road bridge in Oxford? How much ground investigation has taken place so far?

No idea. You could say the same about any infrastructure scheme, but its convenient to ignore the ones that go well.

 

[Zomboid]

No idea. You could say the same about any infrastructure scheme, but its convenient to ignore the ones that go well.

Those don't tend to make headlines

 

[Class 170101]

It would make sense for there be more services between Worcester and Bromsgrove, especially as Bromsgrove is an interchange for Cross City/Hereford-Worcester passengers. However, a new 20.40 Hereford to New Street service (Mon-Fri from 19 May) doesn’t call at Bromsgrove which seems odd as virtually all other services do stop.

allows it to cross in front (22/05H) of 2O66 (22:08 to 22:09) which itself has 1V39 (22/11) on its tail which itself cross in front of 6E47 (22/14) at Kings Norton so not possible to add stop not sure it can go via University.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

What’s the proposal that gives Coleshill, Hinckley & South Wigston extra seats but makes no mention of Nuneaton, Narborough or Leicester which are on the same line ?

 

[The Planner]

What’s the proposal that gives Coleshill, Hinckley & South Wigston extra seats but makes no mention of Nuneaton, Narborough or Leicester which are on the same line ?

Looking at extra locals to Leicester, probably badly worded.

 

[Cross City]

Looking at extra locals to Leicester

This was desperately needed 15 years ago when I commuted from New Street to Leicester for university. God knows how bad it is now.

 

[Stossgebet]

Does anyone know if that large new (and fairly high) building site, you can see from the train at Bordesely, is going to affect the abilty to build a west facing cord? Or is it just going to make it more complicated and expensive?

 

[Cross City]

Does anyone know if that large new (and fairly high) building site, you can see from the train at Bordesely, is going to affect the abilty to build a west facing cord? Or is it just going to make it more complicated and expensive?

Neither of those things. The chord will be well clear of it.

 

[2T57]

allows it to cross in front (22/05H) of 2O66 (22:08 to 22:09) which itself has 1V39 (22/11) on its tail which itself cross in front of 6E47 (22/14) at Kings Norton so not possible to add stop not sure it can go via University.

Thank you for the information. The new 20.40 Hereford to New Street service isn't booked to call at Bromsgrove.
Yet 20 other daily services from Hereford to New Street (Mon-Fri) are able to call at Bromsgrove – including those running in peak when, presumably, the availability of paths must be even more restricted than at ten o'clock at night.

 

[Sprinter107]

The 20.40 Hereford to Bromsgrove isn't new. It has run since the December timetable and doesn't call at Bromsgrove. And before that it ran slightly later, around 20.58, and ran via Stourbridge, so didn't call at Bromsgrove. It doesn't call at Bromsgrove on its way back to Worcester Foregate Street either.

 

[Qwerty133]

What’s the proposal that gives Coleshill, Hinckley & South Wigston extra seats but makes no mention of Nuneaton, Narborough or Leicester which are on the same line ?

Probably meant Hinckley, Narborough and South Wigston.
No impact on Nuneaton or Leicester as the "extra" seats will come from adding stops onto the Stansted airport services so they can claim there is more seats (despite them already being taken from passengers joining at the existing calls).

 

[172007]

Midlands Rail Hub has received funding to the tune of £1.75B in last weeks spending review. whilst this will be released in milestones its a positive step forward

It is expected that Bordesley Railway station's formal closure preceding's will lodged in 2025 as the station area is required for the project. This has been mentioned during informal discussions with the local Line users groups so there are no quotable sources for the purposes of this forums rules.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6849172b860362efc8e78836/E03349913_HMT_Spending_Review_June_2025_TEXT_PRINT.pdf

Reeves's Midlands Rail Hub announcement a funding 'milestone'

Mildands Rail Hub bosses say details are unclear but should be "celebrated".

www.bbc.co.uk

Confirmation of government funding is an "important milestone" for a £1.75 billion scheme which plans to add 300 trains a day to the West Midlands rail network.
The Midlands Rail Hub is set to improve rail links between Birmingham and more than 50 locations including Lichfield, Worcester, Nuneaton and Wales.
While outlining government spending plans on Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: "I'm providing funding for the Midlands Rail Hub, the region's biggest and most ambitious rail improvement scheme for generations."
Midlands Connect chief executive Maria Machancoses said details were unclear but welcomed.
She added: "We really need to celebrate that this government, in these very tight constrained budgets, has decided to continue to support the rail hub.
"We want support from government not only [in] the development stages but we need to start also talking about securing the capital investment that is required to make this a reality."
Midlands Connect said the scheme would provide "faster, better and more frequent" connections, adding 20 million extra seats and creating 13,000 construction jobs.
Ms Machancoses said it would be delivered "in the next few years".
HM Treasury did not confirm the sum provided but said work would focus on the West Chord link, which was at the most advanced stage of development and tackled the most significant bottlenecks.
This section consists of improvements between Bordesley and Birmingham Moor Street, allowing additional trains towards Worcester, Hereford, Bristol and Cardiff.
Decisions on the further phases enabled by this work would be subject to future spending decisions, the Treasury said.

 

[Pokelet]

It would make sense for there be more services between Worcester and Bromsgrove, especially as Bromsgrove is an interchange for Cross City/Hereford-Worcester passengers. However, a new 20.40 Hereford to New Street service (Mon-Fri from 19 May) doesn’t call at Bromsgrove which seems odd as virtually all other services do stop.

Thank you for the information. The new 20.40 Hereford to New Street service isn't booked to call at Bromsgrove.
Yet 20 other daily services from Hereford to New Street (Mon-Fri) are able to call at Bromsgrove – including those running in peak when, presumably, the availability of paths must be even more restricted than at ten o'clock at night.

The 20.40 Hereford to Bromsgrove isn't new. It has run since the December timetable and doesn't call at Bromsgrove. And before that it ran slightly later, around 20.58, and ran via Stourbridge, so didn't call at Bromsgrove. It doesn't call at Bromsgrove on its way back to Worcester Foregate Street either.

This one is the daily route retention via Camp Hill (both ways) so there will also be paths to slot into at the busier north end of New Street.

On a separate note I'm all for additional services to Worcester and beyond however it was said on here years ago about the single track from Stoke Works to Droitwich being a big constraint. Then after that there are the 2 long sections between Malvern Wells and Shelwick ( which mostly go though the hills). Will those ensure
Extra seats turn into longer trains instead of additional frequency?

 

[The Planner]

On a separate note I'm all for additional services to Worcester and beyond however it was said on here years ago about the single track from Stoke Works to Droitwich being a big constraint. Then after that there are the 2 long sections between Malvern Wells and Shelwick ( which mostly go though the hills). Will those ensure
Extra seats turn into longer trains instead of additional frequency?

The constraint is more the length of tbe block sections around Droitwich and Worcester. Midlands rail hub won't redouble it all. It will be small extensions.