UK: West Midlands Combined Authority has signed off the final £20m tranche of funding to reopen the Camp Hill line south of Birmingham for local passenger services.
The WMCA board approved its share of the £61m package on March 19, meaning that the scheme to reopen Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell stations is now fully funded for completion by the end of 2023. WMCA is providing £36m towards the cost, with £20m from the Department for Transport confirmed in the budget earlier this month, and the remaining £5m being contributed through Birmingham City Council’s clean air zone fund.
Transport for West Midlands is leading the project, which is intended to offer the residents of south Birmingham a more environmentally friendly alternative to the congested Alcester Road which links the area to the city centre.
Local passenger services on the Camp Hill line were withdrawn during the Second World War, although the route itself remained open for freight trains and some long-distance inter-city services.
TfWM and Network Rail envisage that two trains per hour will run to and from Birmingham New Street. These are likely to make use of paths freed up on the Redditch – Lichfield Cross-City line, which is expected to revert to a four trains/h service post-pandemic rather than six. Some track and signalling modifications will be needed at King’s Norton junction, where the Cross-City and Camp Hill lines converge.
TfWM has aspirations in the longer term to reconnect the route to Birmingham’s Moor Street station by reopening the Bordesley Chords; this would provide a shorter journey time from the south Birmingham area to the city centre than running to and from the capacity constrained hub at New Street.
‘The people of Moseley, Kings Heath and Stirchley have waited decades for the return of passenger services on the Camp Hill line, and today we have taken a major step towards making that happen’, said West Midlands Mayor Andy Street. ‘With all the funding fully agreed we can now get on with the fun part, getting work started and getting these three stations built and opened to the public. Preparatory work is already underway, and construction of the stations will be starting later this year.’
