Open date finally announced for new £24m railway station
TRANSPORT chiefs have finally given the all clear on delayed plans for the opening of a £24m railway station in Worcestershire.
Rail users had been expecting the opening of Bromsgrove train station earlier this year but a series of delays blighted the scheme.
However, the various parties associated with the scheme have now said the new station will open for definite on July 12.
The new station, which will be capable of handling 800,000 passenger a year, will see better facilities including a staffed ticket office, passenger waiting room, toilets and 350 on-site car parking spaces.
An external concourse links passengers to the car parking areas along with new bus stops, a taxi rank, pedestrian footpaths and a cycle store.
An integrated approach to public transport in the area should make it easier for passengers to use the train to travel between Bromsgrove and Birmingham and Worcester.
The improvements are also expected to enhance the appeal of the area to businesses looking to relocate or set up in the town.
Longer platforms will also allow additional rail services to stop at Bromsgrove in the future. Further railway construction works are scheduled during 2016 as Network Rail electrification works continue. Once complete, there will be four trains per hour between Bromsgrove and Birmingham.
The new railway station has been developed by Worcestershire County Council, the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), and Network Rail, with construction contractor Buckingham Group. It has cost £24m to design and build.
The newly-formed WMCA replaces Centro, the delivery arm of the former West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority (ITA), which jointly funded the new station in partnership with Worcestershire County Council, to improve access to the wider West Midlands transport network.
Cllr Ken Pollock, Worcestershire’s cabinet member for Economy, Skills and Infrastructure, said: “Improving transport links in our county is a key priority. The substantial investment in this important improvement project, as well as other transport programmes across Worcestershire, is a reflection of our commitment to stimulating and securing future economic growth. It also ensures Worcestershire, which boasts the fourth fastest growing economy in the country, is very much ‘Open for Business’.”
Cllr Roger Lawrence, of the WMCA, said: “I am delighted that the new Bromsgrove station is to open. It will be a superb new facility for the town that will provide so much more than passengers have been used to, enabling increased frequency of trains to and from Bromsgrove and better access to rail services across the region.”
London Midland will be staffing the station.
