'There will be frustration': New Black Country railway stations set to open next year delayed

They are just two of a series of projects which have been hit by a £121 million rise in costs for Transport for West Midlands (TfWM).

Elsewhere, TfWM bosses have confirmed schemes such as the construction of Kings Heath, Moseley and Pineapple Road stations on Birmingham's Camp Hill line, and phase one of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill tram extension would not be completed this year and instead have been pushed back to next year.

This is the second delay to the Camp Hill line project after it was originally due to be scheduled for completion in 2023.

Other schemes such as the construction of Aldridge Station, Hagley Road rapid transit, Cross City bus and Sprint Phase 2 have been either deferred or partially deferred for when future funding becomes available.

A report to the West Midlands Combined Authority Board said the ‘super inflationary’ impacts of issues such as Covid, Brexit and other global events had resulted in increased costs of energy, labour and materials.

Anne Shaw, executive director of Transport for West Midlands, said she appreciated there would be frustration amongst passengers but added assurance nothing was being cancelled.

She said: “We’ve got quite an ambitious £3.5 billion programme overall and we’re continuing with all schemes.

“We want to make sure we’ve got projects shovel ready. Nothing is being cancelled, we are just deferring some of the start times and some of the construction.

“The current (Camp Hill) programme was to be completed by the end of this calendar year and obviously we’re not in a position to do that and we will be completing our programme during 2025.

“There is a delay to that and increased costs to that. The delivery of railway stations on a live railway line comes with its own challenges and we’re managing that.

“We’ve been working very closely with Network Rail and the contractor on site.

“Once we got on-site, some of the things we found where we had to re-jig some of the programme and address them, particularly environmental concerns with badger setts located in those areas and also some historic heritage things we’ve had to manage.

“There will be frustration from local people. What you have to remember these three stations when they open will provide huge benefits for Moseley and King Heath.

“Long awaited in terms of reintroducing passenger services on that line and part of our bigger transport programme to get people out of their cars and using public transport, less traffic around Kings Heath and Moseley and then that also should improve impact and journey times on our bus network as well.

“I think the benefits will be delivered and because people have been waiting for many years to have those passenger services reintroduced, we do understand how frustrated people will be. The stations are under construction and will be open next year.”

The Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro Station first phase is under construction but will now also be delayed from the predicted completion this year to Autumn next year.

Mrs Shaw said: “The construction itself will be completed in Spring and then there is quite a lot of work to be done to enter into service and because we’re changing from a single line to a network, there is quite a number of weeks in there for our operator to do all the driver training.

“So we’re seeing great progress on there but that has had a number of challenges from construction as well as we’ve inherited an old railway line and had to fix a number of things that are part of what will support the network.”

A separate paper will also go to the board on phase two of the scheme which will allow the line to be extended up to Merry Hill.

Mrs Shaw said the business case has been refreshed after a review of costs and it is expected to go to the Department of Transport for final sign-off. Construction is expected to start next year with completion in late 2026 or early 2027.