Tuesday 27 Aug 2024
Railway reopened after major track work in Birmingham to improve journeys and prepare for HS2
- Region & Route:
- North West & Central
- | North West & Central: Central
The railway between Birmingham New Street and Coleshill Parkway reopened today (Tuesday 27 August) after major track upgrades to improve journeys and in preparation for HS2 – Britain’s new high-speed railway.
Engineers worked around the clock during a carefully planned ten-day closure of the railway, which started on Saturday 17 August. The work involved relocating a railway signal and moving a section of track across a new bridge at Duddeston Mill Road built by HS2 and its contractor Balfour Beatty VINCI.
As well as providing passengers and freight services with smoother journeys in Duddeston from today, the changes to the track layout will allow HS2 to build a new viaduct which will carry high speed trains into Birmingham Curzon Street station in the future.
In Washwood Heath, Network Rail engineers also replaced 450 metres of track and two 'crossovers' which are sections of track that enable trains to move from one line to another. A third crossover was relocated to help improve the flow of trains through the area. The vital upgrades will mean smoother and more reliable for passengers and freight services.
Patrick Cawley, director of ‘On Network Works’ for Network Rail and HS2, said: “Our major track upgrades in Duddeston not only pave the way for the next phase of HS2 work in Birmingham but will deliver benefits for passengers and freight services from today after the railway reopened this morning.
“I want to say a big thanks to CrossCounty passengers for their patience during the rail closure which also featured track improvements at Washwood Heath which will help enable smoother and more reliable journeys.”
Steve Hopkinson, CrossCountry’s service delivery director, said: “I want to thank passengers for their patience while this vital work was carried out which will deliver smoother and more reliable journeys for customers in the future.
“Though services are returning to normal again until Friday, passengers planning to travel this Saturday and Sunday – either to Water Orton and Coleshill Parkway, or through the Birmingham area – should check before travelling and leave more time than usual for their journey.”
Passengers are being advised that further improvement work will take place this weekend (31 August to 1 September) affecting CrossCountry journeys in the same area.*
People should check www.nationalrail.co.uk before travelling and can find further information on CrossCountry’s dedicated webpage.
Notes to Editors
*The routes affected include services between:
- Birmingham New Street and Leicester, Peterborough, Cambridge and Stansted Airport.
- Cardiff Central and Birmingham New Street to Nottingham.
- Scotland, the North East to Birmingham New Street and the South West.
To keep passengers on the move, CrossCountry’s long distance trains will be diverted around the work but this will mean longer journey times.
Meanwhile the train operator’s regional services linking the East Midlands and Anglia with Birmingham will start and finish at Coleshill Parkway.
Replacement buses will operate between Coleshill Parkway, Water Orton and Birmingham New Street stations.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
0330 854 0100
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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