West Midlands connectivity bingo

A favourite buzzword of Centro, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, is ‘connectivity’. So it’s unfortunate that it has spent £70,000 of public cash on myopic lobbying for High Speed Two, whose two West Midlands stations would be poorly connected to existing transport links and urban centres, providing no benefits to most of the populace.

High Speed Two and West Midlands boroughs

For a London to West Midlands journey, the headline time benefit provided by High Speed Two would be (at most) just over 30 minutes. But its dead end Birmingham station at Curzon Street would be for high speed trains only, and the HS2 plan does not provide for through trains to other West Midlands boroughs. Curzon Street is on the southern periphery of the city centre, and not particularly well located with respect to the central business district.

Depending on the locale, HS2’s West Midlands time advantage over the situation as-is, would be a lot less than 30 minutes, zero, or negative (e.g. for Coventry). On inspecting the population distribution and transport links, it turns out that HS2 would provide no measurable time advantage for most West Midlands residents; as the additional (transfer-to and waiting-)time at Curzon Street exceeds half an hour, HS2’s higher speed is nullified.

The site of the HS2 ‘Birmingham interchange’ at Bickenhill, is in Solihull borough, but difficult to reach from Solihull town centre.

Evergreen++

The train operating company on the existing Chiltern Line has progressed various upgrades under the names ‘Evergreen 1’, ‘Evergreen 2’ and ‘Evergreen 3’. A further development to ‘Evergreen++’, with express electric trains, would provide Black Country, Solihull, and most Birmingham residents, with a quicker service than HS2, without the latter’s outsize carbon footprint.

• London to Birmingham journey about 80-90 minutes
• Principal Birmingham station: Snow Hill
• Principal London station: Paddington (reconfigured, following diversion of services into Crossrail)
• Through services (no change of train)
  • London to Walsall
  • London to West Bromwich and Wolverhampton
  • London to Stourbridge

Possible Chiltern Line service to West Midlands boroughs

Borough	Station	Note
Dudley	Stourbridge Junction	Is close to Brierley Hill
Sandwell	West Bromwich	By converting Midland Metro trackbed back to railway use
Wolverhampton	Wolverhampton	By reclaiming the Great Western route into Wolverhampton
Walsall	Walsall	By constructing the Benson Road curve between the Great Western line and the Soho loop

The populous (western) part of Solihull borough would also get a quicker-than-HS2 service, negating need for a road journey to Bickenhill, or a train into Birmingham.

Evergreen++ in the West Midlands

Summary

HS2 Ltd has given a time of 49 minutes for a Birmingham to London journey. But, by leveraging through trains and better distributed stopping points, Evergreen++ could outperform HS2 for most people and destinations in the West Midlands. The only locations where HS2 has an advantage are the localities adjacent to Curzon Street and Bickenhill, but the isochrones are remarkably close to these stations.

The Snow Hill site is unencumbered by platform length or curvature issues, and its location, within the traditional city centre, is nearer the central business district. In principle, it would be possible to expand the station, as and when necessary. The principal obstacle is Centro, which wants to run its ill-starred Midland Metro tramway along a ramp built right against the east side of the station. This tramway is the principal impediment to improving transport links in the wider region. About five kilometres to the north, Midland Metro blocks construction of a chord to the Soho loop railway. This chord – the Benson Road curve – would unlock part of the potential of the Great Western route through Snow Hill, for northbound traffic.

Chiltern Line 'Evergreen++' concept

In avoiding use of any part of the West Coast Main Line trunk from Euston to Staffordshire via Nuneaton, this upgrade would preserve options such as running some trains from London/Leamington to Birmingham, via Coventry.