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The December 2022 timetable revamp included passive provision for a second Shrewsbury service and a second Liverpool service every hour.  It meant that there was a path at xx22 for the TfW service and at xx26 for the second Shrewsbury service.  Thus, if the stopping patterns had remained the same, the Shrewsbury service would have caught up the TfW service while it picked up at Galton Bridge.  Therefore, the stops were swapped.  

As it turns out, the second Shrewsbury service will be introduced in June at xx26 but will run via Tame Bridge Parkway.  The other Shrewsbury service will move from xx56 to xx52, taking the slot previously used by the Birmingham to Crewe via Stoke service.

It was the Stourbridge Line User Group (SLUG) who instigated all of these changes.  It received a lot of complaints from people in Hagley and Blakedown about the loss of through services to Worcester and produced an alternative timetable that only changed stopping times at stations from Kidderminster to Langley Green, thus not conflicting with other services.  West Midlands Railway took the proposals on board and a thorough review of journey patterns proved that a lot more people travelled to Worcester from Hagley and Blakedown than from Langley Green, Old Hill and Lye.  SLUG also pressed for the retiming of Stourbridge Town services to better connect with the new main line timetable and for the reinstatement of a train at about 22:30 on Saturdays – and was happy to accept WMR's compromise of withdrawing the 21:16 service to get the unit back to Tyseley.  There are a couple of things on the table that SLUG will continue to campaign for – a later Saturday evening departure from Worcester (it used to be 22:44, it's now 22:12 which is too early) and the extension of two off-peak services to/from Foregate Street (they are now terminated at Shrub Hill to allow the set to be split in the morning and strengthened in the afternoon).  SLUG is also campaigning for better Sunday services and the reinstatement of a through service from Smethwick Galton Bridge to Birmingham International.
 
West Midlands Railway said at a recent meeting that it would be making sure that the changes are fully publicised as it will affect every station from Kidderminster to Langley Green (for instance Stourbridge Junction departure times change by about 5 minutes on every journey) and SLUG has offered its help.  The SLUG website and Facebook pages will be updated over the weekend with details of the changes, and members will be informed in its next newsletter next month.       

Realtime Trains is now showing the changes to Stourbridge line services from June.  

Services terminating at Kidderminster will stop at Langley Green, Old Hill and Lye rather than Hagley and Blakedown.

Services terminating at Worcester will stop at Hagley and Blakedown rather than Langley Green, Old Hill and Lye.

Stourbridge Town branch services will depart from Stourbridge Junction at 00, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 with departures from Stourbridge Town at 05, 15, 25, 35, 45 and 55.

Although Saturday services have not been updated yet, the 2116 service from Snow Hill to Worcester will be withdrawn and replaced by a service at 2233 from Snow Hill to Worcester.
  

There was a photo last year of Andy Street and the local MP on the railway bridge in Pendeford Lane so I assume that's the intended location of "Tettenhall" station on the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury line.  Given that both Claregate and Pendeford are a lot closer to the site than Tettenhall, I would guess that a local vote would probably choose one of these as the name if it is built.  

No, As per my Comment earlier today on the LNWR thread the Birmingham International to Rugeley is keeping 350s. You cannot run anything longer than 4 to Rugeley

This is a change of plan since September then.  I've just found the slides from the September WMT Stakeholder Conference, and WMT stated then that 4-car Class 350s would be replaced by 3-car 730/0s on B'ham International to Rugeley TV services as part of the roll out of the new units.  Walsall to Wolves would also be 3-car 730/0, while Cross City would be 6-car (2 x 730/0).

Chiltern Railways is tendering for between 25 and 70 replacement vehicles (existing stock rather than new build) to be available for driver training in 2024 and entry into service by early 2025.  Class 175s or Mk5a coaches would seem to be among the fovourites.
https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2023/W51/813170912

I'm assuming it will be on the cross city line, I didn't know you knew things about the trains like admin stuff. But means we find out a lot more if you do.

I don't know if there's been a change of plan but WMT told stakeholders three months ago that the initial route in the West Midlands to get the 730/0s would be Walsall to Wolverhampton via New Street. 

Brierley Hill High Street has reopened to two way traffic.  I'm not sure what the position is with the bus routes.  The 15A I caught to Merry Hill today used High Street.  However, I later saw a 6 to Stourbridge using Venture Way.  

Notices at all stands at Dudley Bus Station state that it is closing on 14 January.  Each notice has a map showing where the bus routes at that stand will depart from once the station closes.

The WMCA website says that "Demolition of the 1986 built bus station means bus stops will be temporarily relocated to Tower Street and Ednam Road."  The webpage is at https://www.wmca.org.uk/news/work-on-24-million-dudley-interchange-to-begin-in-new-year/#:~:text=Dudley%20Bus%20Station%20will%20be,between%20bus%20and%20Metro%20services.

4631 on service 16 from Wolverhampton to Stourbridge overtook the 15 I was on (4597) in Tiled House Lane at 1815 this evening.  It appears that it diverted via Tansley Green Road, High Street, High Oak, Commonside, Tiled House Lane, Bromley Lane, Standhills Road and High Street to get back on route at Kingswinford Cross.  Unsurprisingly, it was about 40 minutes late when it reached Stourbridge. 

Quite a hefty diversion, couldn't drivers cut through Pensnett Trading estate during weekdays to save a bit of milage, not servicing any stops on diversion and help timekeeping?

The TfWM website has been changed today to say that the diversion is via Second Avenue (Pensnett Trading Estate) between 0700 and 1800 on Monday to Friday, and via Tansley Green Road outside of these hours.  The 15 and 16 services seem a bit more reliable this morning.  Yesterday, there were some major delays - for instance, my bus to Merry Hill was 21 minutes late when it picked me up at 1053 and I later saw 4839 and 4627 running along Bromley Lane towards Merry Hill together at 1208, the former being 36 minutes late.  

WN 5413 on service 1 in Lichfield Street in Thursday's edition of Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys.

Moss Grove, Kingswinford is expected to be closed completely near the Kingswinford Cross pub from 24th July to 1 September 2023 for gas works. This will cause NX services 15/15A/16 (and Diamond 17) to divert. The diversion I would think will be via Summer Hill (A4101) - no info is as yet on the TfWM website.

The NXWM diversions are :-
15 - Heading towards Merry Hill, buses will divert from Dudley Road via Stallings Lane, Tansey Green Road, Dreadnought Road, High Street, Dudley Road, and Standhills Road to rejoin the normal line of route.   Heading towards Wolverhampton, buses will follow the reverse of the above route.
16 - Heading towards Stourbridge, buses will divert from Dudley Road via Stallings Lane, Tansey Green Road, Dreadnought Road, High Street, Dudley Road, High Street and Market Street to rejoin the normal line of route.  Heading towards Wolverhampton, buses will follow the reverse of the above route.

I don't see what the big deal is. Merry Hill has a bus interchange already, and there are several bus services that go into Brierley Hill from there.

The problem is that the Merry Hill tram stop will be at the top of an embankment next to the canal and a long way from the bus station.  When the Metro was first mooted, the current bus station was only supposed to be a temporary one with a new interchange being built close to the tram stop.  This seems to have been shelved.