Thanks so much for this, David. Copied to Malcolm Holmes for his clarification and correction, please Malcolm.
"The Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension will be constructed to allow the route to be used by heavy rail freight services in the future." FREIGHT IS NEEDED, NOW!!
This is wishful, unrealistic and back to front thinking. And, anyway, it is a complete waste of a perfectly good mainline railway that was successful for 100 years!
In addition, I am not at all sure that this is being done, anyway with some railway bridges not being strengthened for both Metro and freight, according to Tim Martin at WMCA (has he now left?)
Further, it makes life much more difficult and expensive to build (if they ARE building for freight trains) and more expensive in everyday operation, with slow freight trains being able to operate at night, only for 7 hours out of 24 every day.
It is simpler and cheaper to pay cancellation fees for Metro and concentrate solely on this Derby to Devon via Dudley principal, mainline railway for passenger and freight railway services, ONLY. It would still work out cheaper, such is the colossal cost of trams and, tram construction - second only to HS2!
Metro is proving a big disappointment in Brum (Corporation and Broad Streets, Five Ways underpass) and wrecks, destroys the only N-S line west of Brum city centre, apart from the Crewe to Hereford line, all the way from Grand Central to the Welsh coast.
A wonderful opportunity to increase freight and passenger capacity on our railway network is being lost, especially when HS2 does not do it (you still must have exactly the same intercity service for the stations HS2 does not stop at - most of them!)
Tim
Hi Tim,
Just been reading the "business case"
Midland Metro Birmingham Edgbaston Extension (metroalliance.co.uk)
Have you seen this section of the report ? Do you think freight is feasible on this line at night time?
Rail Freight
7.54 Freight movement is an issue within the wider West Midlands Metropolitan Area, with the rail network surrounding Birmingham becoming increasingly congested as a result of a lack of route availably between the north and the south of the Metropolitan area.
7.55 The Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension will be constructed to allow the route to be used by heavy rail freight services in the future.
7.56 The implementation of this freight connection to serve a number of the core industrial areas of the Black Country will allow the removal of HGV’s from the congested local roads, which will have a significant impact in improving the environment and connectivity of the local routes. In addition, this route will provide supplementary Freight capacity in the West Midlands, allowing trains to move from more congested routes freeing these up for alternative uses.
7.57 The provision of this line will also encourage investment into the area by organisations that require rail accessed facilities such as major industrial and distribution companies. This will result in extra employment for local residents and an economic boost to the area.
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