The Anonymous Widower

Midlands Rail Hub Looks To The Future With Preferred Alliance Partners

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Network Rail.

The press release has a spectacular picture, which I’m showing here.

Note.

1. High Speed Two’s Curzon Street station is on the left.
2. Birmingham Moor Street station is in the centre.
3. There appears to be parkland between the two stations.
4. Is that the West Midlands Metro running across in front of Moor Street station?

This OpenRailwayMap shows the railway lines in the area.

Note.

1. Electrified tracks are shown in red.
2. Tracks without electrification are shown in black.
3. West Midlands Metro tracks are shown in mauve.
4. The red tracks going diagonally across the map are the four electrified tracks going into Birmingham New Street station.
5. Birmingham New Street station is off the map to the West.
6. To the North of the tracks going into Birmingham New Street station, there are the seven  platforms of High Speed Two’s Curzon Street station.
7. The four platforms without electrification are shown South of the tracks into Birmingham New Street station.
8. Two platforms at Birmingham Moor Street station are through platforms, that pass under Birmingham City Centre to Birmingham Snow Hill station.
9. The other two platforms at Birmingham Moor Street station are bay platforms.
10. The West Midlands Metro appears to take a loop around the stations.

But when you get into the words of the press release, there are a lot of vegetables and very little meat.

• The Midlands Rail Hub could cost around £1.75bn if delivered in full.
• The government’s recent spending review committed to progress the next stage of Midlands Rail Hub.
• Alongside this, planning is underway to begin to deliver two smaller but significant upgrades to benefit passengers as quickly as possible.
• The Alliance partners will be VolkerRail, Laing O’Rourke, AtkinsRéalis, Siemens Mobility, and Network Rail.

These four paragraphs indicate the work, that could be done.

The biggest change will be connecting the Chiltern main line, which runs into Moor Street, with the Camp Hill lines which run towards the South West and East Midlands via two new chords in Bordesley, near Birmingham city centre.

The transformation of the network will include running more train services on key routes through Birmingham and significantly improving connections for the millions of people who use the railway every day.

Work will be prioritised to explore how smaller, but vital, pieces of work which will provide passengers and communities with quicker benefits, including new journey options and more trains can be delivered as soon as possible.

They include reopening platform 4 at Snow Hill station so additional Chiltern Railways services can run directly between Birmingham’s business district and London Marylebone, and redeveloping Kings Norton station and the lines through it so extra Cross City trains can be added and new Midlands Rail Hub-enabled services can call there.

Three projects are specifically mentioned.

1. The new chords in Bordesley.
2. The reopening of platform 4 at Snow Hill station.
3. The redeveloping of Kings Norton station.

I shall now look at each in detail.

The New Chords At Bordesley

This OpenRailwayMap shows the tracks going into and around Birmingham Moor Street station.

 

Note.

1. Electrified tracks are shown in red.
2. Tracks without electrification are shown in black.
3. West Midlands Metro tracks are shown in mauve.
4. The red tracks going diagonally across the map are the four electrified tracks going into Birmingham New Street station.
5. Birmingham New Street station is off the map to the West.
6. To the North of the tracks going into Birmingham New Street station, there are the seven  platforms of High Speed Two’s Curzon Street station.
7. The black track running NW-SE is the Chiltern Main Line between London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street stations.
8. Birmingham Moor Street station is indicated by the blue arrow in the North-West corner of the map.
9. The black track running NE-SW is the Camp Hill Line, that allows services to cross Birmingham.

Two new chords will be built where the Chiltern Main and the Camp Hill Lines cross, to allow services on the Camp Hill Line to call at Birmingham Moor Street station.

Consider.

• The press release described these chords as the biggest change.
• The chords will probably not be fully used, until the new stations are built on the Camp Hill Line.
• There may be need for extra platforms at Birmingham Moor Street station to accommodate any new services.

For these reasons, I suspect that these chords could well be the project that is pushed back to a later date.

The Reopening Of Platform 4 At Snow Hill Station

This OpenRailwayMap shows the track layout at Birmingham Snow Hill station.

Note.

1. The two lilac tracks are the West Midlands Metro.
2. The two orange tracks are the two through tracks between Birmingham Moor Street and Stourbridge Junction stations.
3. Platform 3 is the Southbound track to Birmingham Moor Street on the right.
4. Platform 2 is the Northbound track to Stourbridge Junction on the left
5. Platform 1 is a loop on left.
6. Platforms 1, 2 and 3 are all bi-directional.
7. The closed Platform 4 is on the right and is shown by the black track.

I would expect that this reopening could be fairly straightforward and may also have worthwhile benefits.

• Would an extra platform, allow all Chiltern services to serve both Birmingham Moor Street and Birmingham Show Hill stations?
• Chiltern would probably find it easy to extend services from Birmingham to the North-West of the city.
• In this century, services have run as far as Wrexham from Marylebone.
• If all Chiltern services terminated at Birmingham Show Hill station would this have operational and/or marketing advantages?
• If all Chiltern services terminated at Birmingham Show Hill station would this, make it easier for some passengers to get a train to London and the South?
• If all Chiltern services terminated at Birmingham Show Hill station would this release a platform at Birmingham Moor Street station for other services?

These are a few pictures of Birmingham Snow Hill station.

Platform 4 at Birmingham Snow Hill station could be a Build One Platform-Get One Free At Another Station situation!

The Redeveloping Of Kings Norton Station

This will probably be needed for running services on the Camp Hill Line, so why not get some of the work done early, so the rebuilding doesn’t effect existing services?

This OpenRailwayMap shows the Eastern end of Kings Norton station

Note.

1. Electrified tracks are shown in red.
2. Tracks without electrification are shown in black.
3. The station has four platforms, but some are unused.
4. Two platforms are on an island, with a single platform on either side.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the Western end of Kings Norton station.

The notes to the previous map apply.

These two paragraphs from the Wikipedia entry for Kings Norton station, describe the station.

With the development of both bus and tram services, the need for such a large facility reduced from the 1930s onwards. The result is that today although all four platforms remain in place, only the outer two are in passenger use, with the middle island platforms now derelict.

Refurbished as part of the Cross-City line in 1978, it retained some of its original features following refurbishment, unlike the other ‘cross city line’ stations. The original station building survived, leased out for commercial purposes, until it was demolished in February 2006 for safety reasons. An extension car park provides a Park and Ride facility.

Disabled-access doesn’t seem to be the best either.

These pictures show the station.

Note.

1. As I guessed, there is no disabled-access.
2. But there are Braille  markings on the handrails down to the platforms.
3. Two CrossCountry trains are seen going through the station.
4. The local Class 730 trains, lights and information screens appeared to be new.
5. Three platforms are electrified, but the fourth is not.
6. The electrification structure could probably be used to electrify the fourth platform.
7. Only the two outside platforms ; 1 and 4 are in use, with the central island platforms ; 2 and 3 left derelict.
8. There is car parking and possibly space for more.
9. The two active platforms are 150 metres long and the six-car Class 730 trainstrains appear to be 144 metres long.
10. The Class 220 trains, that are run by CrossCountry Trains appear to be 93 metres long.

It was one of the scruffiest stations, that I’ve ever seen.

These are my thoughts on the station.

Handling The Camp Hill Line

Refurbishing Kings Norton Station

I don’t feel, that this will be the most horrendous of jobs, as it is very much a job, where all the rubbish and wild forest is removed and new platforms and a bridge are built.

 

 

 

August 29, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Birmingham Curzon Street Station, Birmingham Moor Street Station, Birmingham New Street Station, Birmingham Snow Hill Station, Camp Hill Line, Chiltern Main Line, Chiltern Railways, Class 220 Train, Class 730 Train, Cross-City Line, CrossCountry Trains, High Speed Two, Kings Norton Station, Midlands Rail Hub, Network Rail, Siemens Mobility, Step-Free, West Midlands Metro