Birmingham’s Camp Hill line and other major transport projects have been delayed again

Many announced new stations on Birmingham’s Camp Hill line and other major transport projects have been hit with more delays due to a £121 million cost increase. Transport chiefs for the West Midlands have confirmed that schemes such as the construction of Kings Heath, Moseley and Pineapple Road stations and the first stage of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill extension will not be completed this year and have instead been postponed until next year.

This is the second delay for the Camp Hill line project, after it was originally due to be completed in 2023. New stations at Willenhall and Darlaston, due for completion in early 2025, will also be delayed until the end of next year or early 2026.

Other schemes such as the construction of Aldridge Station, Hagley Road Rapid Transit, Cross City Bus and Sprint Phase 2 have either been delayed or partially delayed until future funding becomes available. A report to the West Midlands Combined Authority board said the “super inflationary” impact of issues such as Covid, Brexit and other global events had driven up energy, labor and material costs.

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Anne Shaw, chief executive of Transport for West Midlands, said she appreciated there would be frustration among passengers but added nothing had been cancelled. She said: “We have quite an ambitious £3.5bn program and we are going ahead with all the schemes.

“We want to make sure we have projects ready. Nothing is cancelled, we’re just postponing some of the start times and some of the construction. The current program (Camp Hill) was supposed to be completed by the end of this calendar year and obviously we are not in a position to do that and we will complete our program in 2025.

“There is a delay and increased costs for this. Delivering stations on an active railway line comes with its own challenges and we are up to it. We worked closely with Network Rail and the contractor on site.

“Once we got on site, some of the things we found where we had to redevelop some of the program and address them, particularly the environmental concerns with the badger colonies located in those areas and, also some historical heritage things we had to manage. . There will be frustration from the locals. What you need to remember these three stations when they open will provide huge benefits for Moseley and King Heath.

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“Long overdue in terms of reintroducing passenger services on that line and part of our larger transport program to get people out of their cars and onto public transport, less traffic around Kings Heath and Moseley and also it should improve the impact and travel time on us. the bus network. I think the benefits will come and because people have been waiting for many years for those passenger services to be reintroduced, we understand how frustrated people will be. The stations are under construction and will be open next year.”

The first phase of Wednesbury to Brierley Hill tube station is under construction but will now be delayed from its intended completion this year until next autumn. Ms Shaw said: “The construction itself will be completed in the spring and then there is quite a bit of work to do to get it up and running and because we are moving from a single line to a network there is quite a number of weeks. there for our operator to do all the driver training.

“So we’re seeing great progress there, but that has had a number of challenges from the construction side, as well as us inheriting an old railway line and having to fix a number of things that are part of what’s going to support the network.”

A separate piece of work will also go to the council on phase two of the scheme, which will see the line extended to Merry Hill. Ms Shaw said the business case had been refreshed after a costing review and was expected to go to the Department for Transport for final approval. Construction is expected to begin next year, with completion in late 2026 or early 2027.

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