Bromsgrove's new station to be discussed

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BROMSGROVE’S new £15.7million railway station is due to be discussed by the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority today (Monday).

At the meeting, there will be an update on the proposals to relocate the station 500metres south of the current one, on the site of a former oil terminal.

As well as the update, approval will be sought for £429,000 in extra development funding so the project can progress.

The station is being moved because the northbound platform is only three carriages long and cannot be extended to accommodate longer trains.

It also, according to the report, has no step free access, is in poor condi-tion, has limited parking and has a poor rail link to the second city - with trains only hourly off-peak and half-hourly at peak times.

The report stated, despite those factors, Bromsgrove Station was used by more than 400,000 passengers per year.

The new station, along with the electrification of the line between Barnt Green and Bromsgrove, will allow three trains per hour to travel between Bromsgrove, Longbridge and Birmingham.

The new station will be have acces-sibility compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act, a new 350-space car park, a new station building, incorporating a ticket office, toilets and shops, and a new bus inter-change.

The £15.7million is made up of £1.25million development costs and £14.45million to deliver the project.

Worcestershire County Council will contribute £2million and Centro will put £625,000 towards the £1.249mil-lion development funding - that is coming through the Integrated Transport block grant.According to the report, the £13million will come from a 25-year loan underwritten by the Department of Transport (DfT).Around 65 to 70 per cent of the revenue will come from station access charges levied on train operators for calling at the station, with the remain-ing coming from car parking charges.

It is hoped the new station and the electrification of the Barnt Green to Bromsgrove line will be up and run-ning by May 2015.

Mike Ponsonby, the chairman of Bromsgrove Rail Users Group, wel-comed the news.“Bromsgrove Station is immensely popular and for the last five years, train operatiors have struggled to cope with the increase in footfall.”

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