West Midlands Railway

[bususer28]

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Whether the reason for CrossCity not changing is because it is harder to re-jig the times through New Street or they expect to revert to six per hour in due course I have no idea.
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I read in some rail magazine that the intention is to revert to six trains an hour in order to offer a 'turn up and go' service but this cannot happen until platforms 2 and 3 are restored at King's Norton to allow for Camp Hill services to terminate there and for Cross City Line services to use platform 4 uninterrupted. This won't happen until 2026 is at the very earliest... :)

[LiamsTransport1]

I read in some rail magazine that the intention is to revert to six trains an hour in order to offer a 'turn up and go' service but this cannot happen until platforms 2 and 3 are restored at King's Norton to allow for Camp Hill services to terminate there and for Cross City Line services to use platform 4 uninterrupted. This won't happen until 2026 is at the very earliest... :)

Great to hear, In my personal opinion it shouldn't be put back to 6 trains per hour till the 323s are gone anyway, the amount of issues with overcrowding previously on the 3 carriage diagrams pre-covid and even cases of people being left behind at stops in the peaks was a major issue. Bringing the service down to 4 trains each way per hour has helped certainty from my view of commuting on the service in the last 2 years. 

[Steve3229vp]

Witton Station can take up 6 coach trains which I think the new trains will be. But is the platform at Perry Barr long enough for 6 coach trains ?

[Dom]

Witton Station can take up 6 coach trains which I think the new trains will be. But is the platform at Perry Barr long enough for 6 coach trains ?

Witton can only accommodate 6 carriages on the Birmingham-bound platform. Perry Barr can not accomodate 6 carriages.

[Steve3229vp]

Witton can only accommodate 6 carriages on the Birmingham-bound platform. Perry Barr can not accomodate 6 carriages.

So the rebuilding of Perry Barr station was a waste of time then !

[Tony]

Why do you need more than 5 carriages (the length of the longest new sets) at Perry Barr?

Four carriages is plenty for the Walsall line

[Steve3229vp]

Why do you need more than 5 carriages (the length of the longest new sets) at Perry Barr?

Four carriages is plenty for the Walsall line

Passenger growth for a so called regenerated area ? If it that did happen then what ?

[Tony]

Passenger growth for a so called regenerated area ? If it that did happen then what ?

Rugeley trains physically cannot be any longer without a major rebuild of the station and track layout at Rugeley, None of the other stations on the line can take more than 5 cars, so pretty pointless extending Perry Barr

[Steve3229vp]

Rugeley trains physically cannot be any longer without a major rebuild of the station and track layout at Rugeley, None of the other stations on the line can take more than 5 cars, so pretty pointless extending Perry Barr

So am I right in thinking that Class 730 5 car units will be used on the Walsall line ?
I take the capacity is bigger ?

[Tony]

So am I right in thinking that Class 730 5 car units will be used on the Walsall line ?
I take the capacity is bigger ?

They are not planned to be, they are for London -Crewe & Birmingham. Class 350 are staying on Walsalls

[BK63 YWP]

They are not planned to be, they are for London -Crewe & Birmingham. Class 350 are staying on Walsalls

I thought the edited order for more 3 car 730s was to make all west midlands local services 730s to release all 350s currently used? 

[Tony]

They are for the cross city

Class 730 fleet | West Midlands Railway

[mikestone]

Of course a ten-car 730 will not fit the bays at Crewe so the "little Londons" will either need reducing to five or finding a hole elsewhere, presumably 12.

[mikestone]

350104 noted at Stafford this morning in an extremely garish Eurovision wrap.

[Tony]

Saturday should be the last day of Class 170s on WMR