Disruption as station closes for rail upgrade

RAIL passengers in Bromsgrove will be hit when the town’s railway station closes for 12 days for vital improvement work which is part of a £100 million investment.

Network Rail, London Midland and CrossCountry have revealed that the new station will be shut for 12 days from Wednesday, October 26.

The scheme forms part of the national Railway Upgrade Plan and will involve reconfiguring the track, points and crossings around Bromsgrove station.

It will also see new signalling between Five Ways, in Birmingham, and Ashchurch in Gloucestershire, in preparation for electrification to Bromsgrove.

This will increase the number of trains serving Bromsgrove station from December 2017.

Richard Dugdale, senior sponsor for Network Rail, said: “This £100 million investment at Bromsgrove is key to modernising the railway through the area and providing passengers with a more reliable, better railway.

“There is never a good time to close the railway for any length of time but we have looked at all options and worked with London Midland and CrossCountry to complete this work at a time which will cause least disruption to passengers.”

Steve Fisher, London Midland head of Regional Services, said “We will do all we can to minimise the inconvenience to our passengers during this upgrade. Electrification will mean we can add lots more trains and lots more services between Bromsgrove and Birmingham.”

Ben Rule, production director at CrossCountry, said: “A great deal of effort has been made to deliver a plan that causes the least inconvenience to our customers travelling between the West Midlands, Wales and the South West.”