Rail passengers face six months of misery as platform replaced
Rail passengers face six months of disruption while a platform at a busy city station is completely rebuilt. Those travelling between Birmingham[1] and Lichfield will be affected by the work.
Platform 3 at Lichfield Trent Valley will be completely replaced as part of a £5.8m investment from Network Rail[2] as it is in "need of urgent repair". For the duration of the work, Cross City line services will not call at the station.
The damaged platform will be demolished during a week-long closure of the West Coast main line, starting on Saturday, July 15. A temporary step-free footbridge will also be put in place to between platforms 1 and 2, which will be fully accessible for passengers using the existing staircases and lifts.
West Midlands Railway[4] has said Cross City line services will terminate at Blake Street between Saturday, July 15 and Sunday, July 23. Rail replacement buses will run between Blake Street and Lichfield Trent Valley.
The services will then terminate at Lichfield[5] City station between Monday, July 24 and January next year, with a rail replacement shuttle connecting the station with Lichfield Trent Valley.
West Coast Main Line services to and from London and the North-West will resume as normal on Monday, July 24. Those driving to Lichfield Trent Valley have also been reminded that the car park on Burton Old Road will be closed from tomorrow (Saturday, July 8) until Saturday, July 22, to enable the removal of platform 3.
Jonny Wiseman, customer experience director for West Midlands Railway, said: “I appreciate the lengthy closure of platform 3 will be inconvenient for our customers and I would like to thank our Cross City Line passengers for their patience while Network Rail carries out this work. Ultimately, these are essential structural repairs to the platform which are being carried out for the safety of everybody using the railway.”
References
- ^ Birmingham (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ Network Rail (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ Met Office warns of 15-hour thunderstorms as yellow weather alert issued amid 'intense downpours' (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ West Midlands Railway (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ Lichfield (www.birminghammail.co.uk)