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Monday 4 Dec 2023

Airborne bridges and railway revamps in the Midlands this Christmas

Region & Route:

North West & Central

Major upgrades to the railway this Christmas and New Year will see a new platform bridge lifted in Lichfield, vital trackside equipment upgraded in Birmingham and work continuing on HS2.

Network Rail is investing across its Central route this festive season to improve future journeys for passengers and freight.

One of the most ambitious projects will be reinstating platform 3 at Lichfield Trent Valley station.

Platform 3 is the last stop on the Cross City line directly above platforms 1 and 2 on the West Coast main line.

But the old bridge which carried trains over the top of the fast lines was removed in the summer, meaning that for the last six months the Cross City line has been stopping short at Lichfield City station.

This Christmas a 650-tonne crane will lift the new 40-metre-long bridge deck into place ready for trains to once again serve Lichfield Trent Valley station in the New Year.

One of the Midlands’ busiest railway corridors will also be getting major upgrades between 25-26 December and on New Year’s Day.

Between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International stations, engineers will:

• Maintain the complex web of overhead electric wires which power trains
• Replace three ‘switches and crossings’ - moving pieces of track which allow trains to move between lines
• Upgrade signalling systems – the traffic lights for trains
• Carry out important bridge examinations to check the structures

HS2 will also continue with construction work for a new bridge structure known as the Curdworth Box, which will take new high-speed trains over existing rail lines as they travel from London and Birmingham.

While the majority of work is taking place during the annual festive shutdown when trains don’t run on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, Network Rail's upgrades on 1 January will mean longer journeys, busier trains and some rail replacement buses for passengers.

People are being advised to plan their journey in advance by visiting www.nationalrail.co.uk.

Denise Wetton, Network Rail's Central route director, said: “Once again thousands of railway staff will be working around the clock this Christmas while most of us will be at home enjoying the festivities with family and friends. While we’re doing most of this work on Christmas Day and Boxing Day when very few people want to travel, we will need New Year’s Day to complete our essential track work between Birmingham and Coventry.

“We’ve been working hard with train operators on plans to keep people moving, but as always our advice is to plan your journey in advance by using National Rail Enquiries, so you don’t start 2024 with the unexpected gift of a rail replacement bus!”

On New Year’s Day, local trains between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International will not run and West Midlands Trains will operate rail replacement buses between Birmingham International, Marston Green, Lea Hall, Stechford, Adderley park and Birmingham Moor Street stations (instead of Birmingham New Street).

Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry will operate a significantly reduced service between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International stations and their trains are expected to be very busy.

People planning to travel on Monday 1 January are urged to check with their train operator and plan journeys in advance.

For more information you can visit: www.networkrail.co.uk/wcml