Birmingham may need new railway station
May 13 2009 by Jonathan Walker, Birmingham Mail
BIRMINGHAM may need a major new railway station to cope with the planned introduction of high speed trains, the Government minister responsible for the rail network revealed today.
Transport Minister Lord Adonis said an inquiry into whether a new station was needed had already begun.
It was one of the options being considered by a panel appointed by the Government to draw up detailed plans for a new high speed rail line between London and Birmingham, he said. But the Minister stressed that any new station was a “long term” project and would not affect the “essential” refurbishment of New Street station.
He was speaking at Euston, the central London station, to officially launch the upgraded West Coast Main Line.
The £9 billion upgrade to the line has finally been completed after more than ten years. Journey times between Euston and Birmingham New Street have fallen from one hour 43 minutes to one hour 22 minutes as a result of the improvements.
But the Government is already planning a new rail service between London and Birmingham, running high speed trains which could cut journey times to under an hour.
Ministers have appointed a company called High Speed 2, chaired by former civil servant Sir David Rowlands, to develop the proposals.
Lord Adonis said: “One of the things High Speed Two is looking at is how we physcially get the trains in to the city.
“Nothing has been ruled in and nothing has been ruled out.”
New Street currently lacked capacity to cope with a new rail line but an option might be to expand one of the other stations, he said.
“But there, are of course, three Birmingham stations, including Snow Hill and Moor Street, and there is also the potential for further capacity at Birmingham International.
“One of the options would be, for the long term, whether an entirely new Birmingham station would be appropriate, and that is one of the things High Speed Two will look at.
“But that would be for the long term, and it doesn’t affect the current modernisation of New Street, which is absolutely essential.”
Plans for anew Grand Central station at Eastside were proposed four years ago by developers Arup as an alternative to the redevelopment of New Street Station.
The brand new station would have solved New Street’s passenger overcrowding problems and allowed more trains to run.
But the site, land alongside the main railway line once occupied by Parcelforce, was sold by Birmingham City Council.
Council leaders said Grand Central would have been too expensive to build and was unlikely to receive Government backing.
* Birmingham International Airport chief executive officer Paul Kehoe today urged air travellers to turn their backs on Heathrow and Gatwick and fly from Birmingham.
He spoke as the first US Airways flight to Philadelphia took to the skies.
Mr Kehoe said airlines like British Airways had tried to persuade business travellers in the Midlands to use its services from London airports by offering special deals and even free flights in some circumstances.
But he urged businessmen and women as well as leisure travellers to support Birmingham by using services like the new US Airways one.
“It has taken months of negotiations and a lot of work to get this service to the USA from Birmingham and we want to make sure people use it,” he said.
“Driving to Heathrow probably costs something £1.30 per mile when you take into account petrol, wear and tear etc. Then there is more expensive parking. It makes sense to fly from your local airport.
“Having US Airways on board to Philadelphia will help us to welcome home some of the 60 per cent of the region’s travellers who punish themselves by driving miles along crowded motorways to other airports hours away.”
Mr Keyhoe added: “We are grateful to US Airways for their confidence in starting this service in a difficult economic climate.”
The new flight will operate five times per week using a Boeing 757 with 176 seats, including 12 business class seats. On the inaugural flight today there were 130 passengers.
Stephen Raeder, US Airways managing director customer service who had flown over especially for the launch, said : “Birmingham is looking good. We are very pleased with the bookings that we already have for our new service and as people tend to book flights later nowadays, I am sure these numbers will grow.”
