UK: The West Midlands Combined Authority Board has approved bids for £2bn of government funding for investment in tram, rail, bus and cycling infrastructure over the next five years
The bids cover the refurbishment and upgrading of West Midlands Metro’s Birmingham – Wolverhampton light rail line, as well as funding the planning and design of several proposed extensions:
- Wednesbury to Walsall using a disused railway alignment;
- Wolverhampton city centre to New Cross Hospital;
- Hagley Road, Birmingham and Sandwell;
- Brierley Hill to Stourbridge.
Funding is also being sought for the Coventry Very Light Rail low-cost tram scheme.
Proposed main line rail projects include
- a station at Aldridge;
- detailed business cases for the Midlands Rail Hub project and reopening the Sutton Park line;
- planning for a station at Tettenhall;
- the reinstatement of Platform 4 at Birmingham Snow Hill to support the Midlands Rail Hub;
- redevelopment of Solihull station;
- development of a new rail and bus interchange branded Sutton Coldfield Gateway.
Bus services and cycling facilities would also be improved and electric vehicle charging facilities provided. There would be an expansion of contactless ticketing including best-value fare capping.
The bids are to be submitted to the government’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement fund and Bus Service Improvement Plan. A decision is expected this autumn, with the funding period running for five years from April 2022.
Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street said the funding would ‘set us well on the road to a real revolution in transport for the West Midlands’.
Cllr Ian Ward, WMCA portfolio holder for transport and leader of Birmingham City Council, said ‘we have set out an ambitious bid which supports our aims of delivering a green revolution in transport and targets investment in the region’s more deprived and poorly connected communities – as better connections attracts jobs and supports new housing.
‘It is therefore right to make a huge ask of government to secure the funding necessary to deliver on these plans and give people more reasons to take the tram, bus and train or cycle.’
