Birmingham Cross-City Line
| Cross-City Line |
| from north to south
Lichfield Trent Valley
|
The Cross-City Line is a suburban railway line predominantly 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 Central Trains.
The cities, towns and villages served by the line are listed below.
- Lichfield Trent Valley - on the outskirts of Lichfield, with connections to Virgin Trains services along the Trent Valley line between London Euston and the North West
- Lichfield City - in central Lichfield
- Shenstone
- Blake Street
- Butlers Lane
- Four Oaks
- Sutton Coldfield
- Wylde Green
- Chester Road
- Erdington
- Gravelly Hill
- Aston - the Walsall Line diverges here
- Duddeston
- Birmingham New Street
- Five Ways
- University
- Selly Oak
- Bournville
- Kings Norton - actually in Cotteridge
- Northfield
- Longbridge
- Barnt Green
- Alvechurch
- Redditch
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 electrication 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 By 1995 the last of the old trains had been withdrawn, having been replaced by the current Class 323 electrical multiple units.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 Central Trains on behalf of Centro.
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
There are long-standing proposals for improvements to the line. Extra stations have been proposed for Mere Green (between Four Oaks and Butler's Lane), Raddlebarn Road (between Bournville and Selly Oak, to serve Selly Oak Hospital), and Wychall (between Northfield and King's Norton). More ambitious plans include the re-opening of a short spur south of Longbridge to Rubery and Frankley and the re-introduction of local trains on the Camp Hill Line (effectively a loop between Birmingham New Street and King's Norton). 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.
Media
- There was a highly publicised opening ceremony to celebrate the electrification and service enhancement at Redditch in 1993.
- In the same year 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 also a highly detailed reproduction of the part between Redditch and Birmingham New Street for the free train simulator BVE: [1].
