Chance to discuss Cross City leaf fall timetable in Birmingham

Friday, 4 October 2019

A special leaf fall timetable is coming into operation on the Cross City line in Birmingham later this month - and passengers can find out more at an information session at New Street station.

Officials from West Midlands Railway will be on the main concourse at the busy station from 4.30pm to 6.30pm on Monday 7 October to answer questions about the temporary timetable.

The seven-week timetable will operate on weekdays only between Monday 14 October until Friday 29 November and is being introduced to combat delays caused by autumnal leaf fall. It applies to the Cross City line, which runs from Lichfield, through Birmingham New Street, to Redditch and Bromsgrove.

Under the revised timetable some trains will have an amended stopping pattern during the middle of the day, with the normal timetable resuming at all stations by 1600. The amended pattern is to allow services greater leeway to recover from delays caused by leaves on the line.

The timetable is focused on providing a normal level of service for commuters travelling to and from Birmingham city centre, with every train arriving at New Street before 0930 unaffected. Trains heading out of the city after 1600 will also call at all stops as normal.

The leaf fall timetable involves missing out some stops on the route to help deal with slippery rail conditions. Autumnal weather creates significant challenges for train drivers, as wheels and rails can often become coated with a hard residue. As a result, trains often need to slow down to adapt to the driving conditions.

The Cross City line is particularly affected because of the high frequency of trains on the route, the short distance between stations - meaning acceleration and deceleration is required – as well as the density of foliage near the tracks.

The stations with amended calling patterns are Wylde Green, Chester Road, Erdington and Gravelly Hill (Cross City North) as well as Bournville, Kings Norton and Northfield (Cross City South).

For full details of the timetable, click here.

Richard Brooks, customer experience director for West Midlands Railway said, “Our priority at all times is to provide a reliable service for passengers on the Cross City line and we know from experience that introducing a leaf fall timetable brings major benefits to punctuality in the challenging autumn period.

"The new timetable we introduced in May 2019 brought such a big increase in the numbers of trains that this reduced autumn timetable still carries 80 more stops than last year's regular timetable."

Passengers are advised to plan ahead and check their train times at nationalrail.co.uk

About West Midlands Trains

For further information on this release, call our press office on 03300 955150 or email [email protected]

West Midlands Trains operates both West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway services.

• London Northwestern Railway services operate between Liverpool and Birmingham, and on the West Coast mainline to and from London Euston.

• West Midlands Railway services operate to destinations across the West Midlands via Birmingham New Street.

For more information on these services visit westmidlandsrailway.co.uk or londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk

The West Midlands Trains franchise started on 10 December 2017 and will run until 2025/26.

West Midlands Trains operates 1,300 services a day, manages 150 stations and provides over 70 million passenger journeys a year. Over the course of the franchise, West Midlands Trains will be investing £1 billion into the rail network to deliver new trains, improved routes and station upgrades. This will include 400 new train carriages across the network and space for an extra 85,000 passengers into Birmingham and London at peak times.

The franchise is a joint venture between Abellio (70.1% share) and East Japan Railway Company / Mitsui & Co., Ltd (29.9% share in a 50:50 split). Abellio is the international passenger transport subsidiary of the Dutch national railway company, Nederlandse Spoorwegen. In the UK, Abelllio operates ScotRail and Greater Anglia train services, Merseyrail services in a joint venture with Serco and buses through Abellio London. For more information visit www.abellio.com

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