Chiltern Railways announce new West Midlands main line
A £250m investment to create a new main line from the West Midlands to London Marylebone has been announced at Birmingham Moor Street station by the Chairman of Chiltern Railways, Adrian Shooter at an event attended by the Secretary of State for Transport Andrew Adonis.
In an ambitious drive to get motorists onto trains, the Chiltern Railways route will be upgraded – resulting in faster trains and reduced journey times. Average journey times will fall by 20%, including the M40 park and ride hub at Warwick Parkway (J15).
The West Midlands will get a new main line connection to London to rival the West Coast route to Euston, with the average trains from Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone taking just 100 minutes against the current 128.
This will be supported by a £13.5m project to open additional platforms at Birmingham Moor Street station, also announced today. This builds on the transformation of Moor Street station undertaken by Chiltern Railways since taking ownership of the station in 2003. The platform capacity of the station will be doubled by the move, which will create a new Birmingham hub for trains to London.
Adrian Shooter, Chairman of Chiltern Railways, said: “Evergreen 3 is the biggest passenger rail project for several generations not to call on the taxpayer for support. Working closely with Network Rail, we are going to create a new main line railway for the people of Oxfordshire and the Midlands. This deal demonstrates that real improvements to rail services can be paid for without public subsidy by attracting people out of their cars and onto trains.”
Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s Director of Operations and Customer Service, said: “This is a great scheme that will deliver huge benefits to hundreds of thousands of passengers. It clearly demonstrates how Network Rail is working in partnership with train operators to continue to fund and attract big improvement schemes for the benefit of everyone who uses the rail network.”
Evergreen 3 is the largest domestic passenger infrastructure project to be funded without recourse to taxpayer funding since before World War II.
The infrastructure upgrade will be carried out by main contractor BAM Nuttall, together with partners Jarvis and Atkins, who will deliver the project under contract to Chiltern Railways. It will be paid for by Network Rail in the first instance, who will be reimbursed by Chiltern Railways over 30 years through payment of a facility charge. The Department for Transport has agreed that any future franchisee will retain this liability.
The project will be delivered in stages, with the main line journey time improvements being delivered from 2011. The new line to Oxford, including Water Eaton Parkway, is expected to open by 2013, subject to Transport and Works Act approval.
The upgrade to Moor Street station will be undertaken by Carillion, and will be completed in December 2010.