Facelift for two rail stations

Oct 12 2005 By Ben Hurst, Birmingham Mail

BIRMINGHAM International and Wolverhampton rail stations are set to benefit from a massive £4 billion facelift.

But the Network Rail scheme does not include Birmingham New Street - which is currently in desperate need of a £350 million revamp, according to city chiefs.

Network Rail wants to develop Euston, Victoria and Waterloo stations in conjunction with private partners. The company has also identified 50 larger regional stations as needing upgrades.

A spokesman said that Birmingham International - which serves the airport and NEC - and Wolverhampton had been earmarked.

Network Rail also plans to bundle smaller sites into clusters and offer them as packages to single developers.

Chief executive John Armitt said: "Our plans may well be ambitious, but they fuse imagination with reality in order to leverage additional private capital into improving our assets. This will result in upgraded facilities that passengers rightly demand."

A Birmingham City Council-led taskforce has been set up, including the Department for Transport, Centro and Advantage West Midlands, to bring forward plans to increase the space for passengers at New Street station.