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West Midlands Rail Vision Network Development Strategy

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West Midlands Rail Vision Network Development Strategy West Midlands Rail Vision Network Development Strategy Rail in the West Midlands The rail network in the West Midlands City Region is growing. About 33 million passenger journeys are made on the network every year, with 6.1% growth on average last year. On some routes the growth is much greater, and passengers will be noticing that trains and car parks are getting much busier. The West Midlands rail network, while focused on Birmingham and the City Region, covers a much wider area than the Centro-WMPTA area alone. The rail network is the principal public transport link from the wider West Midlands Region into Birmingham, and rail commuters represent 20% of the total morning peak journeys into the city centre. Centro-WMPTA is preparing an Integrated Public Transport Strategy for the West Midlands City Region and this will be designed to support the wider development and regeneration policies in the region. An integrated public transport system would consist of various tiers of transport provision including regional/national rail, local rail, light rail (tram), Bus Rapid Transit (segregated, high-quality bus), local bus and community transport. In the Centro-WMPTA area, the integrated public transport network is promoted through the Network West Midlands brand, and rail is a key element of this identity. The provision of high-quality regional and national rail services is essential to capitalise on Birmingham’s position at the heart of the national rail network. Excellent national rail connections, especially to London, will support the economic development of the City Region and also support its wider competitiveness both nationally and internationally. The role of local rail is to provide fast, high capacity public transport connections between the key centres in the West Midlands City Region and also into the City Region from the wider journey-to-work area. Rail is especially good at catering for longer-distance journeys where its speed and capacity give it a strong competitive advantage over other modes. It can also be effective on certain shorter-distance flows where there is very strong demand for travel over a specific corridor and where there is sufficient route capacity to allow a reasonable service frequency to be provided. Centro-WMPTA Rail Vision Centro-WMPTA is developing an overall vision for the rail network in the West Midland looking at all aspects of the rail service being provided to passengers. A key part of this vision is our strategy for delivering enhanced services and greater capacity. This document outlines the proposals we believe are necessary to transform the rail network. The first section shows those measures that are needed across the network on all routes, and the second section shows our proposals for developing specific routes. The schemes listed represent Centro-WMPTA’s view of a package of schemes that will cater for predicted growth levels and deliver significant wider benefits for the rail network and the metropolitan area. While the schemes require considerable further development work, we believe they represent a package that, taken together, form a coherent strategy, are deliverable and have a strong business case. The key infrastructure scheme that we believe is necessary is the construction of the Bordesley Chords and a new rail route into Birmingham Moor Street station. This project creates considerable additional central Birmingham rail capacity with the provision of four new platforms linked to the Tamworth/Nuneaton and Kings Norton/Bromsgrove routes. This allows some existing services to be diverted out of New Street station, and new services to be developed. We realise that the strategy does not include all potential rail schemes, but it has been necessary to focus on those we believe deliver the greatest benefits and have the best chance of being taken forward. Working with our Partners Delivering the strategy will require strong partnership working between Centro- WMPTA, Network Rail, London Midland, other train operators and local authorities. This document outlines the Centro-WMPTA perspective on rail strategy, which has been fully discussed with Network Rail. For the forthcoming 5-year period of 2009- 2014, Network Rail has separately published its own Strategic Business Plan (SBP), and this already incorporates many of the proposed schemes within the route plan for the West Midlands. The two documents complement each other, reflecting the interests of the agencies charged with inducing and accommodating rail growth, both within the region and from the national perspective. Building from this position of alignment, Centro-WMPTA and Network Rail are actively working together to develop their respective plans to benefit the region. Centro-WMPTA is also working closely with London Midland, the new local train operator. London Midland has plans to upgrade stations and rolling stock across the West Midlands over the next few years, and their involvement in delivering the additional capacity will be crucial. Centro-WMPTA is also engaging the other passenger operators in the area (Cross Country, Chiltern Railways, Virgin West Coast and Arriva Trains Wales), as well as the freight operators, to develop a strategy which is inclusive so as to achieve greater influence, whilst at the same time recognising individual partner expectations. Support from the Shire, Unitary and District councils in the region will also be crucial to delivering many aspects of the strategy, and Centro-WMPTA has begun to engage with each of these groups to ensure their interests are recognised. Next Steps Centro-WMPTA will work with industry partners to develop these schemes further and assess their costs and benefits so that we are in position to justify funding being allocated to them. Network Rail has already included a number of these projects in their Strategic Business Plan for 2009-14, and we will work to find the best delivery and funding mechanisms to drive the overall strategy forward. We will review the strategy in the light of the emerging development and business case work, and any wider strategic policy and other developments that impact on the proposals. Centro-WMPTA would welcome your views on the proposed strategy. Please let us have your comments by 29 February 2008. Please send your comments to: Nigel Pennington Rail and Rapid Transit Director Centro-WMPTA Centro House 16 Summer Lane Birmingham B19 3SD Email: [email protected] Section 1 - Network Wide Schemes Route enhancement Scheme Description To provide enhancements to services on all routes at times when current service provision is inadequate. Particular areas in need of improvement are: Evenings – many routes have poor service frequencies or irregular patterns during the evening period. Also there is a demand for later evening services from Birmingham, particularly at weekends. Sundays – the Sunday leisure and shopping market has grown considerably in recent years, as has the requirement for local services to act as feeders for long-distance trains, for which Sundays is often the busiest day of the week. Airport – Birmingham Airport is planning for major growth and public transport access is a key issue both for travellers and staff. Providing “24/7” services to the airport, as well as improved through journey opportunities would be extremely beneficial. Scheme Benefits Many schemes to incrementally enhance existing services should be easy to deliver in the short term and will improve the overall attractiveness of the rail offer. It is acknowledged that to achieve improved late night and Sunday services Network Rail will need to change its network maintenance strategy. Longer trains Scheme Description Providing additional rail capacity through the operation of longer trains. This will require: • Provision of additional rolling stock, both diesel and electric • The extension of station platforms • The use of Selective Door Opening technology to call long trains at short platforms where platform lengthening cannot be justified • The provision of additional stabling and depot facilities to handle the additional rolling stock Scheme Benefits The rail network has been experiencing considerable growth and has now reached the point where to cater for the continuing growth, as well as the growth stimulated by new schemes, providing more rolling stock is essential. The decision of London Midland to order new Class 172 diesel trains to replace the Class 150s offers the opportunity for further vehicles to be ordered, however options for expanding the electric fleet are more complex, especially around the Class 323 fleet, and therefore a national review of stock deployment will be needed. Park and Ride Scheme Description Providing additional park and ride capacity across the network through the expansion of existing car parks sites and the development of new sites. Expansion would be progressed through a mixture of decking and land purchase. The majority of the expansion needs to occur by developing existing locations, but there are a number of major new sites that could be developed: Worcester - Worcester is a city of over 100,000 with only 75 parking spaces. There is therefore considerable suppressed demand for rail travel from the Worcester area which has seen substantial growth in recent years. The provision of a Worcester North Parkway station near Fernhill Heath would give good access to the strategic road network (close to M5) and provide frequent links to Birmingham. The Worcester (Norton) Parkway proposal could also provide the city with wider connections into the inter-urban rail network. Brinsford – A new station and Park and Ride site north of Wolverhampton with good links to the M54/M6 could generate new rail journeys to Birmingham and other destinations, depending on the services able to call. Shrewsbury Parkway – a new station east of Shrewsbury could access a large catchment area avoiding the need to enter the congested town with its limited parking. Stratford, Earlswood area (M42), Bromsgrove and Longbridge are discussed in their respective route enhancement sections.
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