RAIL passengers on the cross city line between Longbridge and Birmingham city centre will soon be getting a train every 10 minutes thanks to planned service improvements.
As part of the Midlands Rail Hub, trains to Longbridge, Northfield, Kings Norton, Bournville and Selly Oak will create a ‘turn up and go’ London-style service resulting in 5 million extra seats every year.
Northfield MP, Laurence Turner, and Selly Oak MP, Al Carns, met with hub deliverers – Midlands Connect – and other rail chiefs at Kings Norton station last week to discuss plans for the service improvments.
Both MP’s were told of the planned increase to the number of services per hour on the line as well as scheduled improvements to Kings Norton station.
The currently derelict island platform will be re-instated and the station’s accessibility will be upgraded alongside the development of a brand-new footbridge connecting all platforms.
Laurence Turner, MP for Birmingham Northfield said: “Today’s announcement is welcome news for Kings Norton. The new proposed timetable will bring the much-needed reliability and frequency that residents have needed for many years.
“These plans signal exactly the right ambitions for investment in public transport in south Birmingham and will help provide a better incentive to use the train instead of driving.
“Longer-term, I hope that funding can be secure to secure equivalent improvements to Northfield station and embrace Longbridge’s potential as an interchange station for services that connect the West Midlands and the South West.”
Midlands Rail Hub is the flagship scheme of Midlands Connect and when delivered in full, passengers will see services on several routes increase by between 50 and 100 per cent.
The scheme will also deliver quicker journeys into central Birmingham for the forthcoming two train per hour Camp Hill line service from Kings Norton to New Street via the currently-under-construction stations at Pineapple Road, Kings Heath and Moseley Village.
The project allows the Camp Hill services to run into Birmingham Moor St, which is a shorter route and provides better access to future HS2 services at Curzon Street.
Mike Bull, programme director of Midlands Connect, said: “It was great to meet Al and Laurence and brief them on the plans and show them how our work will deliver real benefits for their areas and their constituents.”
More than 12,750 job roles are also expected to delivered through the programme.
Last year, the previous government committed to ‘full’ delivery of the project, and in February this year, an additional £123m was allocated to progress the detailed engineering designs.
Work on the project is expected to run from 2025 to 2033.
