8 September 2020
South Staffordshire Line and West Midlands Metro Wednesbury – Dudley Brierley Hill extension.
Historical Perspective
The Stourbridge – Walsall “South Staffordshire” railway line and associated link from Walsall to Lichfield closed to passengers in the 1960s, due primarily to a lack of demand at the time as we all rushed out to buy cars and to use them even more and forevermore. But, this should not have meant that our railway lines were sold off, piecemeal to any old Tom, Dick or Harriet. They should have been kept in public ownership and mothballed, as 56 Kms of the Black Country Railway was - the only UK mainline that was! The top and bottom ends, the Derby and Worcester 64 Kms sections were kept in use. We, in the Black Country, were not allowed to have our trains and stations back. Only because your fellow councillors, Ian from 1981 onwards, were determined to use 6.7 Kms out of 56 Kms for Metro trams. And to rebuild the tram network, that they had destroyed in the 1950s, on the railway network that was closed in the 1960s and 70s!
The line between Round Oak and Walsall/Bescot closed completely in the early 1990s and in order to reopen it would effectively need to be completely rebuilt to modern standards after being abandoned to nature, vandalism and metal theft for a quarter of a century. Since the mid 1990s up to the 00s, I have been walking the Dudley borough sections and Dudley railway tunnel beneath Castle Hill. That section had modern concrete sleepers and continuously welded track. There was not a brick out of place in Dudley tunnel, too. It was safe and easy to walk through the 800 metres!
In addition, my young son and I visited the unlocked Victorian signal box at Round Oak in the mid 90s. We even went up the stairs. When I went back on my own, a short time later it had been vandalised and burnt. Such was the contempt that our railway staff and unions had for their own industry there was no security and no-one could be bothered to lock the door! And, of course, even worse they destroyed about a third of the national railway network we modern-day, technological whizz kids thought would never be needed again.
The Walsall - Lichfield ceased to be a through railway from 1984 with the track removed completely between Ryecroft Junction (Walsall) and Brownhills with much of this now used as a footpath. And, to be extended all the way to Lichfield, on this forgotten mainline railway, if Cllr Richard Worrall (former transport boss) gets his way (with cycles, too), over the bridge in my photos, here:
The section between Lichfield and Anglesea sidings remained open to serve an oil terminal until 2001.
It must also be recognised that the “South Staffordshire” railway line was never major North – South main line railway. From a national perspective this route was always a secondary railway line served predominantly by local / regional passenger services and freight traffic and the occasional diverted long distance service. It needs, NOW to be a major north-south mainline railway because of the growth of settlements near it and next to it and, the congestion of the M5, M6 and other main roads that cross it.
It is also the ONLY north-south mainline railway between Brum city centre and the Irish Sea, apart from the Hereford to Crewe railway line. Plenty of lines to the east of Brum, including the £106 BILLION HS2! £106 BILLION of extra greenhouse gases causing extinction (watch Attenborough's film on Sunday 13 Sept at 8 pm), that we could well do without!
Addressing Transport Connectivity Issues on the Stourbridge – Walsall Corridor
The end of passenger rail services in the 1960s left many areas of the Black Country, especially around Dudley and Brierley Hill with only a bus-based public transport network which, whilst extensive, is categorised by slow journey times, especially to and from Birmingham. Therefore, bring in the obvious bus priority measures, electric buses and fare-free public transport in the West Midlands for everyone, that my age group has had for years. 12 years in my case. Fare free in Luxembourg, Dunkirk, Tallinn and many places in E Europe.
Transport for West Midlands and its predecessors have been seeking for many years to address this issue of poor public transport connectivity for these affected areas, but have been hampered by lack of funding. Lack of funding because you foolishly chose to rebuild the tram network you destroyed, on the railway network that was not closed but survived the buildings that went almost everywhere else on the railway lines. And, a tram network that is the second most expensive transport mode to construct after HS2!
The extension of the West Midlands Metro tram line, which is now under construction from Wednesbury to Dudley, Merry Hill and Brierley Hill, was identified as the most cost-effective way of providing this improved connectivity for both local residents and businesses. The most expensive way. See:
This is largely because the use of light rail enables a high frequency service to operate providing direct access to both the heart of Dudley town centre and the Merry Hill shopping centre. To speed Dudley town residents to Merry Hill to make things even more difficult for Dudley town businesses. There is already a good bus service that needs investment to make it more popular. And, the bus service needs to be free and electrified and put in bus lanes with traffic light priority.
This would not be possible with a traditional train service, which would be unlikely to justify more than a half hourly frequency service and which would be confined to the former railway alignment rather than providing access to those areas to which people actually want to travel. In so doing, you thoughtlessly, spoil a 120 Kms mainline railway, the UK's last that could still be finished but, now, only as a train-tram-train mainline (hardly mainline with the changes) - a world first! If you had chosen the train to finish the 120 Kms railway, instead, electric buses could have linked the railway station with Dudley town centre.
The West Midlands Metro Wednesbury – Brierley Hill extension will also be connected onto the existing West Midlands Metro line 1 at Wednesbury, providing direct links to Birmingham, Wolverhampton and West Bromwich and will also provide the opportunity to change at Dudley Port Station for local train services. All these links already exist - using buses and, would be much improved, if you simply finished the railway line with TRAINS!
In line with the West Midlands Combined Authority’s “Movement for Growth” strategy, the West Midlands Metro line can also be relatively easily extended on an incremental basis, either as a light rail or tram-train service, both south towards Stourbridge and north towards Walsall as and when funding permits. So you then break up the full 120 Kms, you spoil a regional and even a national railway line that Network Rail and DfT insists on calling a "railway of national strategic significance." See
In contrast, for a rail option to operate effectively, the whole length of the former railway between Round Oak and Walsall would need to be reopened in order for an effective public transport service to operate. Exactly what you have to do. You've got it in one. But finish the FULL 56 Kms with trains and the nine stations Railfuture wants.
Even if the line were reopened for passenger trains, it would not be possible to operate through train services from this rail line to either Birmingham or Wolverhampton due to limited rail network capacity at these locations for additional rail services. YES because you have been running roads, houses, shops and offices down our railway lines and stations for decades. In addition, you foolishly chose to turn the Snow Hill to Wolverhampton commuter and regional railway line into a tram line. That destroyed Wolverhampton's second mainline station at a stroke and destroyed 3 or 4 Kms of double-track railway line either side. An improved service to Shrewsbury was also lost.
We do recognise that there may be a long term requirement for the former Stourbridge – Walsall rail corridor, primarily to meet future rail freight demand. However, indications from the rail industry based on current freight growth forecasts are that such rail network capacity would not be required until the 2040s at the earliest. This has been a familiar statement from Network Rail, the railway 'experts' for decades, despite relentless economic growth and population growth and road congestion growth. Always, freight must go on roads, first and foremost.
However, the current Wednesbury – Brierley Hill light rail proposals would not prevent the Stourbridge - Walsall route reopening for conventional freight and passenger train services in the longer term should this ever be required. This is totally impractical with six to ten trams every hour. It is a lie.
This can be demonstrated by the fact that shared running of trains and tram services over the same infrastructure already occurs elsewhere in Europe and has now been introduced between Sheffield and Rotherham. Sheffield Cathedral to Rotherham Parkgate is 20 Kms. Our unfinished but every major structure is in place, mainline is over 120 Kms - quite some difference! PUT SIMPLY, PLEASE TRY AND RECALL THAT TRAINS GO ON TRAIN LINES. It's so obvious that even a dull, 11+ failure like me who went to a secondary modern, can get it!
As a region we have extensively considered the options to address the connectivity problems facing communities and businesses on this former rail alignment (but NEVER considered the bleeding obvious option!) and, for the reasons outlined above, have identified the West Midlands Metro Wednesbury to Brierley Hill scheme as both the optimum initial solution and the option which also best facilitates a future incremental approach to further improvements as funds and business cases allow.
If you require any further information, please let me know.
My son and I went exploring the brierley hill section of the south stafford(?) line a few days ago but were cut off almost immediately due to the overgrowth of vegetation.
ReplyDeleteWe heard that there were plans to reopen the line and my son is excited by the prospect and keeps insisting we check it in its current state while we still can!
I'd be very interested in keeping up to date with any developments or additional history about it.
Thank you, Matt for your interest in this line and for the comment.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, out of the unfinished 56 Kms, and half used 64 Kms, the 120 Kms Worcester, Black Country, Derby mainline railway "of national strategic significance" (Network Rail and Dept for Transport in March 2018), 6.7 Kms is being given over to Metro trams and a further 2 Kms for a Very Light Rail test track. This means that the UK's last mothballed mainline will be severed by the trams and test track, instead of all 120 Kms of double track being used for commuter, regional and freight trains, with Railfuture's nine new stations.
The best we can hope for is that one day the shuttle tram, in the middle, will shuttle passengers to a reopened railway line to connect the tram at Brierley Hill to Stourbridge Jct and Worcester and, at the other end, connect the tram stop at Wednesbury to the train taking passengers on to Walsall, Lichfield and Derby.
It would have been easier and more sensible, simply to have put the trains back on the whole length of 120 Kms in one go!