Safeguarded Midlands line

It was interesting to read Pip Dunn’s selection of lines in the article on ‘What if these lost lines hadn’t closed at all?’ ( RAIL 823).

Fortunately, there are some instances of lines that were safeguarded, and although out of use remained part of the national railway network under the protection of the Network Licence. One of these lines, poised to make a comeback and to contribute to urban regeneration, lies in the less romantic West Midlands. A consultation - Movement for

Growth 2026 - outlines the

challenges of population growth, new employment, need for access to the docks and to other markets, and transport’s downside of air pollution, providing a strong case for modal shift. For freight, with canals having limited carrying capacity, the modal shift has to be from road to rail.

Currently for rail traffic from Swindon, Bristol and South Wales, if two junctions at Soho are to be avoided, there is one route into the whole of the Midlands. And that narrows down to two tracks for much of its (heavily used) route.

For many years through many consultations, the reinstatement of the central section of the mothballed railway has been sought. It has also long been an objective of the Stourbridge Line Users Group. In the route through Dudley, the value of protecting alignments for later reinstatement has been demonstrated. It is not all doom and gloom. Mr J Davison, acting chair, Living Streets Birmingham