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Thursday 18 Dec 2025

Major step forward as Midlands Rail Hub Alliance confirmed

Region & Route:

North West & Central: Central

| North West & Central

The four partners which will design and develop the most transformative railway upgrade in the Midlands have been confirmed. 

Midlands Rail Hub, which could cost around £1.75bn if delivered in full, will improve journeys, help to boost economic growth, and better connect people with opportunities, jobs, and new houses.

The new Midlands Rail Hub Alliance - confirmed to include VolkerRail, Laing O'Rourke, AtkinsRéalis and Siemens Mobility, working alongside Network Rail - will design and develop Midlands Rail Hub and support the build phase. 

This will include 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.

Alongside this, work is also being prioritised to progress smaller changes to the existing railway which will provide passengers and communities with quicker benefits, including new journey options and more trains.

This includes 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.

The Midlands Rail Hub Alliance - working with the sponsoring partner team of Network Rail, West Midlands Rail Executive, Department for Transport, and Midlands Connect - will plan timescales for the development of Midlands Rail Hub, with early passenger benefits expected to be realised by the early 2030s.

Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy said: “The Midlands Rail Hub will be transformational for millions of people across the country by improving capacity across the network, allowing more services and better reliability.

“Thanks to £123 million of Government funding we are unlocking jobs opportunities, stimulating housing growth and better connecting our communities, forging ahead with our promise to create modern transport Britain needs and deserves.”

Denise Wetton, Network Rail's Central route director, said: "We want the huge improvements this major investment and upgrade will unlock – including access to opportunities, more jobs, economic growth, and new houses - to benefit people, communities, and businesses as soon as possible.

“Confirming the Midlands Rail Hub alliance partners means this vital regional and national project can really start to move forward and we are focusing hard to start work on this transformative project as quickly as possible."     

Mal Drury-Rose, West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) director, said: “After years of supporting this project, we are thrilled that it will come to fruition, delivering huge benefits for passengers in the West Midlands.

“We are committed to ensuring that it's more than just a rail scheme - that it maximises the benefits of HS2 coming to the region, creating a major new transport interchange at Moor Street and Curzon Street stations, and delivers on our wider ambitions for social mobility, transport integration, regeneration and economic growth."

Maria Machancoses, chief executive of Midlands Connect, said: "Today is a big moment for the region - the Midlands Rail Hub alliance will finally allow us to start delivering real improvements passengers will feel on the ground as early as 2028.

“We must keep driving this project forward and work with Government to get the full programme funded and delivered, because only then will the Midlands realise its full potential.”

The overhaul of the railway in Birmingham and the West Midlands, including changing how the city's three main stations - New Street, Moor Street and Snow Hill - are served by train services from across the region and beyond, will have significant benefits to local, regional and national passenger journeys.

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