- Cross-City Line
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Cross-City Line 
Butlers Lane stationOverview Type Heavy rail, Suburban rail System National Rail Status Operational Locale West Midlands Termini Lichfield Trent Valley
RedditchStations 24 Operation Opened 1978 Owner Network Rail Operator(s) London Midland Rolling stock Class 323 Technical No. of tracks One - Two Track gauge Standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Electrification 25 kV AC OHLE The Cross-City Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs from Redditch, Worcestershire, its southern terminus, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via Birmingham New Street, and services on the line are currently operated by London Midland.
Contents
History
The £7.4 million Cross City line was sanctioned in May 1975 and launched on 8 May 1978. Services initially ran between Longbridge and Four Oaks via Birmingham New Street and the project was a creation of the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE). It is formed out of the former Midland Railway's Birmingham West Suburban Railway between Redditch and Birmingham via Selly Oak, and the London and North Western Railway Line between Birmingham and Lichfield. On opening in 1978 it included the re-opening of Five Ways station and a new station to serve the University of Birmingham; and one at Longbridge (the original station at Longridge was on the branch line to Halesowen and Old Hill) many of the other stations were rebuilt at the same time. Of the new stations the only one to be officially opened was the one at University where the then Secretary of State for Transport William Rodgers MP formally opened the station on the 8th May 1978. There is a plaque on platform 2 marking this occasion.
The route was electrified in the early 1990s, beginning in 1991 and completed on the 6 June 1993. The decision to electrify was made on 7 February 1990 by the then Transport Minister Cecil Parkinson during the campaign for a by-election in the Lichfield constituency. Redditch, Alvechurch, Aston and Blake Street stations were rebuilt at this time. A number of other stations including Barnt Green Station were extensively modified to accommodate the new longer electric trains.
Route description
The railway stations and cities, towns and villages served by the line are listed below.
- Lichfield, Trent Valley - on the outskirts of Lichfield, with connections to London Midland services along the Trent Valley line between London Euston and Crewe
- Lichfield City railway station - in central Lichfield
- Shenstone railway station in Shenstone, Staffordshire
- Blake Street railway station in Hill Hook, Sutton Coldfield
- Butlers Lane railway station in Northern Four Oaks
- Four Oaks railway station in Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield
- Sutton Coldfield railway station in Sutton Coldfield
- Wylde Green railway station serving in Wylde Green and Boldmere
- Chester Road railway station serving Pype Hayes and northern Erdington
- Erdington railway station in Erdington
- Gravelly Hill railway station in Gravelly Hill
- Aston railway station in Aston - the Walsall Line diverges here
- Duddeston railway station in Duddeston
- Birmingham New Street Station in Birmingham City Centre
- Five Ways railway station in Five Ways, Birmingham
- University of Birmingham in the University of Birmingham
- Selly Oak railway station in Selly Oak
- Bournville railway station in Bournville
- Kings Norton railway station in Kings Norton and Cotteridge
- Northfield railway station in Northfield, Birmingham
- Longbridge railway station in Longbridge
- Barnt Green railway station in Barnt Green - branches off the main line to Cheltenham here.
- Alvechurch railway station in Alvechurch
- Redditch railway station in Redditch
A large stretch of the northern part of the line closely follows the A5127 road.
Services
For many years, passenger services on the line were worked by elderly Class 108, 115, 116, 117, 118 and 121 diesel multiple units. However, by the early 1990s these trains were becoming increasingly unreliable, so new trains were built to coincide with the electrification of the route in 1993. By 1995 the last of the old trains had been withdrawn, having been replaced by the current Class 323 electrical multiple units. Services are currently operated by London Midland.
Current daytime service levels are:
- between Redditch and Longbridge: 2 trains per hour
- between Longbridge and Four Oaks: 6 trains per hour
- between Four Oaks and Lichfield City: 4 trains per hour
- between Lichfield City and Lichfield Trent Valley: 2 trains per hour
Future
There are long-standing proposals for improvements to the line. Extra stations have been proposed for Mere Green[citation needed] (between Four Oaks and Butler's Lane) and Wychall[citation needed] (between Northfield and King's Norton). More ambitious plans include the re-opening of a short spur south of Longbridge to Rubery and Frankley[1] and the re-introduction of local trains on the Camp Hill Line[2] (effectively a loop between Birmingham New Street and King's Norton).
Bromsgrove station will be added as an alternative southern terminus for the route when the existing electrification is extended there from Barnt Green.[3]
There are also plans for the introduction of a passing loop at Alvechurch to allow 3 trains per hour to Redditch. Currently, the line is single-track between Barnt Green and Redditch and so it is impossible to have more than 2 trains per hour. If services are delayed, then the trains may miss out stations between Birmingham New Street and Longbridge to make up time, or the service may be curtailed at Barnt Green to prevent a knock-on effect to other services.
Nevertheless, the line's main problem is capacity on its central section. The long term aspiration is for dedicated tunnels through central Birmingham: this would either take the form of new bored tunnels (favoured by the SRA) or a re-opening of Birmingham Curzon Street Station to allow two of the existing four tunnels to be used for local trains only (formerly favoured by Central Trains). With the current funding problems on Britain's railways, it is unlikely that the Cross-City Line will see any improvement.
Over the 2010 Christmas period, the line between Selly Oak and the University was closed for three days to allow the installation of a new railway bridge over the Selly Oak relief road which is currently under construction.
Media
- In 1990, Railscene produced a driver's eye view of the then-diesel line, featuring many of the elderly rolling stock still in operation. Many features of the line have since been changed, for example, the rebuilding of Alvechurch and Redditch stations, the abolition of Lichfield City's goods sidings and closure of the Brownhills Line and the removal of the fourth platform of Lichfield Trent Valley.
- There was a highly publicised opening ceremony to celebrate the electrification and service enhancement at Redditch in 1993.
- In 1995, Video 125 released a video of a driver's eye view of the recently electrified line, narrated by Kay Alexander. It is interesting to note on the video near Lichfield the use of an elderly Class 310 unit on the opposite direction service - this was due to not all 323 units being in traffic in time for the new services starting.
- There is a highly detailed reproduction of the Cross City Line (Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley) available on Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS)
- There is also a highly detailed reproduction of the part between Redditch and Birmingham New Street for the free train simulators BVE and OpenBVE[4]
References
- ^ "Frankley Reopening Proposal". Railways in Worcestershire. http://www.miac.org.uk/frankleyreopening.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
- ^ "Reinstatement of Camp Hill Rail Services Moves A Step Closer". Birmingham City Council. 2007-07-13. Archived from the original on 2008-01-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20080111175232/http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=86595&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=9&MENU_ID=276. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ "£1.2 billion boost for English rail and metro services". Railnews. 2009-08-04. http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/metro/2009/08/04-one-billion-investment.html. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
- ^ http://www.railsimroutes.net/x-city_south/downloads.html
External links
Railway lines in the West Midlands Primary 
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