Government funding a 'milestone' for rail project

The Midlands Rail Hub will see hundreds of additional trains connecting railway stations in Birmingham to key regional locations

Confirmation of government funding is an "important milestone" for a £1.75bn scheme which plans to add 300 trains a day to the West Midlands rail network.

The Midlands Rail Hub is set to improve rail links between Birmingham and more than 50 locations including Lichfield, Worcester, Nuneaton and Wales.

While outlining government spending plans on Wednesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: "I'm providing funding for the Midlands Rail Hub, the region's biggest and most ambitious rail improvement scheme for generations."

Midlands Connect chief executive Maria Machancoses said details were unclear but welcomed.

She added: "We really need to celebrate that this government, in these very tight constrained budgets, has decided to continue to support the rail hub.

"We want support from government not only [in] the development stages but we need to start also talking about securing the capital investment that is required to make this a reality."

Midlands Connect said the scheme would provide "faster, better and more frequent" connections, adding 20 million extra seats and creating 13,000 construction jobs.

Ms Machancoses said it would be delivered "in the next few years".

HM Treasury did not confirm the sum provided but said work would focus on the West Chord link, which was at the most advanced stage of development and tackled the most significant bottlenecks.

This section consists of improvements between Bordesley and Birmingham Moor Street, allowing additional trains towards Worcester, Hereford, Bristol and Cardiff.

Decisions on the further phases enabled by this work would be subject to future spending decisions, the Treasury said.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves presented the government's Spending Review at the House of Commons on Wednesday

The upgrade proposes to deliver six trains per hour through the core of the Cross City Line, with four starting at Lichfield Trent Valley and two at Four Oaks.

Labour MP for Lichfield Dave Robertson said the funding news was "absolutely brilliant" for people travelling between Staffordshire and Birmingham.

He described how a decrease since the pandemic to just two trains an hour between Lichfield and Birmingham had led to overcrowding and was stifling opportunity for local people.

"The Midlands Rail Hub would not only bring our trains back but it'll guarantee them. So actually we can be safe and secure in the knowledge that those opportunities will be available for people in the future," he said.