Chase Line

Chase and Walsall Lines

(from north to south) Stafford Rugeley Trent Valley for West Coast Main Line Rugeley Town Hednesford Cannock Landywood Bloxwich North Bloxwich Walsall for Wolverhampton line Bescot Stadium Tame Bridge Parkway Hamstead Perry Barr Witton Aston for Cross-City Line Duddeston Birmingham New Street for all destinations - Step free access - Centro free car parking - Other car parking

Map of the Chase Line. Not to scale.

The Chase Line is the railway line from Birmingham New Street to Walsall and Rugeley.

The line from Birmingham to Walsall (sometimes referred to as the Walsall Line) has two alternative routes, both of which are electrified at 25 kV AC overhead. Of the two routes, one leaves New Street from the east, following the Birmingham Cross-City Line as far as Aston, where it diverges to the west. The other route leaves New Street from the west, and travels via Soho. Beyond Walsall, the line is not electrified, and continues north to Hednesford and Rugeley. The section from Walsall to Rugeley Trent Valley was previously freight-only, and reopened to passenger trains in stages between 1989 and 1998.

The line running via Aston, Perry Barr and Bescot is the former Grand Junction Railway, opened in 1837.

Places served on the route are listed below. For information on the stations, please click on the links in the blue box to the right.

Chase Line (Walsall-Rugeley-Stafford)

• Stafford
• Rugeley
• Hednesford
• Cannock
• Great Wyrley (closed in 1964)
• Landywood
• Bloxwich
• Walsall

Walsall Line (Birmingham-Walsall)

• Walsall
• Bescot Stadium
• Tame Bridge Parkway
• Hamstead
• Perry Barr
• Witton
• Aston
• Duddeston
• Birmingham

Passenger services on the line are operated by Central Trains on behalf of Centro. Two types of services are operated.

• Stopping trains from Birmingham New Street to Walsall are operated by Class 323 electrical multiple units. Some stopping trains continue to Hednesford, but use Class 150 diesel multiple units as this section of line is not electrified. Many electric trains from Walsall continue from Birmingham New Street to terminate at Birmingham International, and vice versa.
• Services from New Street to Rugeley run non-stop to Walsall. Many services continue beyond Rugeley to Stafford, working over the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line. These services are also operated by Class 150 units.

Re-opening

The line between Walsall and Rugeley Trent Valley closed to passengers in 1965, although it remained as a freight only line. It re-opened in stages, as follows:

• 10 April 1989 — Walsall to Hednesford
• 2 June 1997 — Hednesford to Rugeley Town
• 25 May 1998 — Rugeley Town to Stafford

References

• A Century of Railways Around Birmingham and the West Midlands, Volume 3 1973-1999, John Boynton.

External links

• The Chase Line.

Railway lines in Central England:
Main lines:	Cross-Country Route   Midland Main Line   West Coast Main Line  Birmingham-Peterborough via Leicester Line   Birmingham-Worcester via Bromsgrove Line    Birmingham-Worcester via Kidderminster Line   Cherwell Valley Line   Chiltern Main Line    London-Aylesbury Line   Trent Valley Line   Welsh Marches Line   Wolverhampton-Shrewsbury Line
Commuter lines:	Birmingham-Rugeley "Chase" Line   Birmingham-Stratford Line   Birmingham-Walsall Line    Coventry-Nuneaton Line   Cross-City Line   Leicester-Loughborough "Ivanhoe" Line    Northampton Loop Line   Robin Hood Line   Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line    Stourbridge Junction-Stourbridge Town Line   Walsall-Wolverhampton Line
Rural lines:	Cotswold Line   Crewe-Derby Line   Derwent Valley Line   Leamington-Stratford Line    Marston Vale Line   Nottingham-Lincoln Line   Nottingham to Grantham Line    Oxford-Bicester Line   Princes Risborough-Aylesbury Line   Shrewsbury-Chester Line