The restoration of Camp Hill and its connections

Chris Howe reports on the progress being made on delivering three new stations in Birmingham - and how that will feed into wider Midlands Rail Hub ambitions.

Since November 2022, VolkerFitzpatrick has been working on behalf of the West Midlands Rail Executive and the West Midlands Combined Authority to deliver three new stations on the Camp Hill Line in Birmingham, to replace ones closed in 1941.

Thankfully, the line itself remained open, although for the past 80 years it has been used only for freight traffic, empty stock moves, and some CrossCountry services in order to bypass the Cross-City Line.

The £61 million scheme to reopen the Camp Hill Line entails three stations being rebuilt as accessible, two-platform stations capable of handling six-car trains.

The initial two trains per hour service will operate between Birmingham New Street and Kings Norton, with trains joining the Camp Hill Line at St Andrews Junction. As the line will remain unelectrified, the service will be operated by West Midlands Railway using Class 196 diesel multiple units.

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