New train station may not be ready for 2022 Games
PLANS for Birmingham’s Commonwealth Games bonanza have been dealt a blow – as transport bosses admit a key rail upgrade may not be completed in time.
Perry Barr station is set for a revamp ahead of the 2022 event, with the athletes village being built just a stone’s throw away on the old Birmingham City University site.
The project, set to cost anywhere from £15 million to £20 million, will see the station transformed into a modern-day transport hub equipped to deal with the pressures of the Commonwealth Games – but there are serious concerns about its completion in time.
The transport delivery committee heard that, using a traffic light system, where green indicates everything is going well and red indicates serious problems, the Perry Barr station upgrades have been given an amber/red status. It was the only project rated anything less than amber.
Alison Peckmore, project delivery manager for West Midlands Combined Authority, said: “The various teams are coming together at the moment to ensure that we deliver the right project at that location.
“They’re just bringing together all the various details, but very much with a mind that the Common- wealth Games is just down the road. I think, in the very early stages, one of the points that’s made is that they may be looking to phase it, so that we deliver the absolute interchange for the Commonwealth Games.
“And if it is that the nice-to-haves are afterwards, that is maybe an option. But at this point of time we are very much for delivery for the Commonwealth Games.”
Councillor Timothy Juxtable, who represents Hall Green South, took exception to the idea of a ‘phased’ approach, questioning why there was only one completion date on the document if the whole thing would not be completed before the games.
“Having read the executive summary, I’m even more concerned than beforehand,” he said.
“Because if we have split it into pre- and post-Commonwealth Games then the baseline and forecast completion dates are completely inaccurate, because they are for the Commonwealth Games.
“So if there’s going to be a postCommonwealth Games schedule, the completion date must be after the Commonwealth Games.”
The current estimated completion date is May 1, 2022 with the games scheduled to begin on July 27.
“If there is any slippage at all to the completion date, we are going to miss the Commonwealth Games,” said Councillor Juxtable.
“It is a very, very tight timescale. It’s one of the few projects listed with a hard deadline for the Commonwealth Games, and it’s the only one with an amber/red status.”