DavidGrain
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When XC trains run via Lichfield they cancel a cross city train to give it a path although they have not needed to do this on Sundays.
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Parliamentary debate on East to West Midlands railway connectivity
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The Planner
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They will soon when it goes up to the Saturday service. You can fit XC in if you drop calls in some of the Cross City trains.
Western Lord
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There is no such town as "Nuneaton and Bedworth", nor "Hinckley and Bosworth". I very much doubt that you will find a resident of Nuneaton who claims that they live in "Nuneaton and Bedworth". I am not interested in local authority areas that lump towns together. I know what I mean by a town and Nuneaton has almost twice the population of Hinckley (2011 census figures)
Leaf fall timetable causes chaos & is hated
A Burton service;
no capacity at New Street
diesel
limited stop (?)
Would be better running it from Moor St, then Aston, Sutton Lichfield (City & TV) re-opened stations to Burton, & then on to Derby.
VT 390
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Can Aston be reached from Moor Street?
The Planner
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Nope...
It's worth considering exactly why stakeholder groups feel direct trains are needed where they currently don't exist? And I don't know the answer to that btw. Others could probably list the reasons.
The industry could strive towards providing direct trains from everywhere to everywhere to avoid the need for changes at stations. But does it really make sense if the connections are decent, and the hub is not over capacity? I mean avoiding passengers having to change at the old Birmingham New St would be understandable, but avoiding interchange just to avoid having to leave the train may or may not be worth it Vs the cost Vs other projects?
There may be a decent flow from the Midlands to say Brighton area, but if you use Southern you have to change en route. Sure direct trains could probably be put on from Milton Keynes but you can't accommodate every combination. Hence it seems the Liverpool to Norwich is to be split with seemingly no panic about passengers having to change?
The industry could strive towards providing direct trains from everywhere to everywhere to avoid the need for changes at stations. But does it really make sense if the connections are decent, and the hub is not over capacity? I mean avoiding passengers having to change at the old Birmingham New St would be understandable, but avoiding interchange just to avoid having to leave the train may or may not be worth it Vs the cost Vs other projects?
There may be a decent flow from the Midlands to say Brighton area, but if you use Southern you have to change en route. Sure direct trains could probably be put on from Milton Keynes but you can't accommodate every combination. Hence it seems the Liverpool to Norwich is to be split with seemingly no panic about passengers having to change?
DavidGrain
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Not even if/when the Moor Street chords are built
Not at the moment, but if a proper job is done with the Bordesley chords, & a chord put in either before Proof House or at Nechells, then yes.
VT 390
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Even if this could be done it would be far easier and cheaper to run the services to New Street as when the chords open the XC Leicester services and the Nottingham terminator could be diverted to Moor Street much more easily allowing the new service to run to New Street.
VT 390
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I thought it was to try to be completed by the time HS2 opens so that the services that divert there will have interchange with it but I may be thinking of something else.
DavidGrain
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As far as I am aware there is no time scale. I thought that the reopening of stations on the Camp Hill Line would expedite this but now they are talking of diverting the Worcester/Hereford trains via Camp Hill so that they can use their slots in New Street.
Personally I think in time the Camp Hill line can build up its patronage to require its own suburban service with dedicated trains not pack them on to an interurban regional service. So I think we need one of the chords as soon as the new stations are open. Some years ago it would never have been thought that the Cross City Line would require an electrified service with 6tph many of them 6 car trains.
Personally I think in time the Camp Hill line can build up its patronage to require its own suburban service with dedicated trains not pack them on to an interurban regional service. So I think we need one of the chords as soon as the new stations are open. Some years ago it would never have been thought that the Cross City Line would require an electrified service with 6tph many of them 6 car trains.
VT 390
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I think it has been proposed that the existing Worcester/Hereford service will remain on it's current route in to New Street but that when those stations open a new service would operate from Great Malvern (Hereford if the single line permits it) via the new Camp Hill stations and in to New Street/Moor Street. This proposal does make sense initially but once people learn about the new stations they will need there own service, but there would be literally no room on some of the existing Hereford services if they went this route.
The Planner
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Not a chance considering the plan is to have the stations done by 2022. The chords aren't even funded and will likely need a TWAO.
Class 170101
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And presumably at this time funds for transport are being 'allocated' in connection with the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022?
DavidGrain
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Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority is talking of steam trains running on regular services from 2021 in time for the Commonwealth Games creating 50 new jobs. That will be fun for the timetable planners, 'kettles' mixing with WMR, Chiltern and XC.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/iconic-steam-trains-heading-birmingham-16425300
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/iconic-steam-trains-heading-birmingham-16425300
The Planner
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Pretty much.
Which will mean a few trains on weekends. I can think of worse things to plan!
Morgsie
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There is a East-West line near me, the Derby to Stoke line. This line has not been discussed here so I am raising it though I have clue what the plans are for the line.
how is that relevant - the West Midlands are clearly just the county of that name, not a wider region. Unless it goes to Coventry, it must go to Birmingham to be on topic.
Seriously, this line is totally off the official radar with E-W links. Other than Coventry-Leicester, it's all Birmingham to the 4 cities of the East Midlands (and Lincoln basically a token mention). Stoke just gets ignored, as do places got to from the east through Birmingham.
Moor St to Stratford
Tyseley to Stratford won't be an issue.
Moor St to Tyseley could use a 3rd track, & it already exists from Tyseley to Heath Mill Lane. Then go into the platforms against Moor St that are empty.
how is that relevant - the West Midlands are clearly just the county of that name, not a wider region. Unless it goes to Coventry, it must go to Birmingham to be on topic.
Seriously, this line is totally off the official radar with E-W links. Other than Coventry-Leicester, it's all Birmingham to the 4 cities of the East Midlands (and Lincoln basically a token mention). Stoke just gets ignored, as do places got to from the east through Birmingham.
I'd suggest looking at the WMCA membership
I think it's been mentioned in the East Mids franchise thread that the Crewe to Derby service will become a Crewe to Newark Castle service if anyone can confirm with class 153 trains removed from their franchise within the first 6 months?
The Planner
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Three tracks are a pain, especially if its bi-di. There aren't any real problems with getting trains down there as it stands.
DavidGrain
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how is that relevant - the West Midlands are clearly just the county of that name, not a wider region. Unless it goes to Coventry, it must go to Birmingham to be on topic.
Seriously, this line is totally off the official radar with E-W links. Other than Coventry-Leicester, it's all Birmingham to the 4 cities of the East Midlands (and Lincoln basically a token mention). Stoke just gets ignored, as do places got to from the east through Birmingham.
West Midlands is a region as well as a county. There are several bodies looking at East to West Midlands including Midlands Connect, West Midlands Rail Executive, and other bodies with confusingly similar names
hooverboy
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class 153 removal from that route is easy brownie points for abellio. that one is always rammed!
plan is temporarily cl156 as replacement until new trains arrive to the best of my knowledge.
Indeed, I was being sarcastic to make the point that all this E-W Midlands links plans from various bodies seem to treat the West Midlands as just being Birmingham and Coventry, rather than a large region.
absolutely, and while the red herring (for these E-W Midlands links, other than perhaps lobbying for cross-Brum services to serve their western areas) of the WMCA would obviously ignore Stoke, the wider bodies might want to point out it's relevance. Even the West Midlands Railway TOC might show some interest in the Derby-Stoke line - surely the current termini of Crewe and Derby make it a better geographic (though not operational) fit for WMR, rather than EMT?
InTheEastMids
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Thought this post got rather overlooked in the mad dash to get crayons out. People in the UK are reluctant to connect, and it's much less an issue in, say, the Netherlands where nearly every journey requires a change in Utrecht. Getting really good connections at Nuneaton for Leicester-Coventry travelers would be a good way to validate demand before we start chucking money at some sort of direct link, which is probably also dependent on Syston-Wigston Capacity Scheme.
Obviously more capacity on the XC Leicester-Birmingham is a no-brained too, and I simply can't believe how slow this route is, particularly from Coleshill to New Street
DavidGrain
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Considering that Tamworth took a lot of Birmingham overspill during the new towns era, I think Tamworth has a very poor service into Birmingham. Coleshill has a parkway station and therefore ought to have a good service. Water Orton has been spoken about often as needing a better service but it suffers from being on exactly the wrong side of the West Midlands County boundary. In fact the boundary follows the curve of the Sutton Park Line.
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