Bringing new stations to life will ease roads chaos, MP says
New railway stations will open up train travel for thousands of people across the region and ease gridlocked roads, an MP has said.
The Express & Star has revealed that 13 stations are at various stages of planning in the Black Country, Birmingham and Staffordshire.
It forms part of a £300 million plan to open up lines for communities which may be poorly served by public transport.
It is understood that each station has a budget of around £20m, with many of them considered “quick wins” due to some infrastructure already being in place.
Wolverhampton South West MP Stuart Anderson, said: “If you are travelling between main hubs, such as Wolverhampton to London, the connectivity is excellent.
“However, in the areas surrounding towns and cities this is often not the case, leading to congestion on our roads and more pollution. It cuts people off from using public transport.
“Opening up new railway stations will enable thousands of people to access our rail network, while at the same time freeing up the roads and creating job opportunities.
“It is everything we are pushing for in Wolverhampton and the Black Country.”
The stations are all at different stages of development.
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street is a known advocate of building more stations, and was instrumental in schemes to open new stations in Darlaston and Willenhall, which form part of the plans.
Others include Meecebrook, between Stafford and Stoke – which was recently handed £330,000 in Government funding for initial investigations – and the Tettenhall Station.
In the Walsall area, Brownhills, Pelsall and Streetly are being looked at.
Bosses also want to revive the decade-old scheme for the Brinsford Parkway station in Staffordshire, which would sit on the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line loop of the West Coast Main Line.
A number of stations are lined up for Birmingham and its surrounding areas, including Sutton Coldfield Town. Castle Bromwich, which closed to passenger services in the late 1960s, is also being investigated - as is the new Fort Parkway station on the Birmingham-Peterborough line.
Bosses are also examining a scheme for the old Brighton Road station in Balsall Heath, while a number of other stations have been identified for the areas around Coventry, as well as Walmley, Minworth, Rugby.
Transport bosses are desperate to boost access to rail travel, which took a major hit during the pandemic due to lockdown measures.
Recent figures suggest that across the country commuter numbers on Britain’s railways are one quarter down on levels from February 2020, before the pandemic.
South Western Railway, which runs services into London’s Waterloo Station, said morning peak arrivals had only recovered to half of their pre-Covid levels.
The loss in ticket revenue has reportedly left a funding gap of £2 billion.
Speaking to peers in March, Chris Lane, head of transport innovation at TfWM, said the region was facing a major challenge to get people back on buses and trains after many had ditched public transport during the pandemic.
He told the Lords Built Environment Committee: “Unless we do something car usage is going to continue to increase.
“It’s probably because we’ve told everybody to not use public transport throughout the pandemic and to isolate themselves.
“We’ve got to reverse that message really.”
