Birmingham Cross-city Line Article Index for
Birmingham
Website Links For
Birmingham
 

Information About

Birmingham Cross-city Line




Redditch

Alvechurch

Barnt Green

Longbridge

Northfield

Kings Norton

Bournville

Selly Oak

University

Five Ways

Birmingham New Street

(for WCML and Cross-Country Route )

Duddeston

Aston

(for Walsall Line )

Gravelly Hill

Erdington

Chester Road

Wylde Green

Sutton Coldfield

Four Oaks

Butler's Lane

Blake Street

Shenstone

Lichfield City

Lichfield Trent Valley

(for West Coast Main Line )
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The Cross-City Line is a Suburban Railway line in the West Midlands Region of England . It runs from Redditch to Lichfield via Birmingham New Street , and services on the line are currently operated by Central Trains .

The cities, towns and villages served by the line are listed below.

For many years, passenger services on the line were worked by elderly Class 108 , 115 , 116 , 117 , 118 and 121 Diesel Multiple Unit s. However, by the early 1990s these trains were becoming increasingly unreliable, so new trains were built to coincide with the electrication of the route in 1993 (the announcement of the electrification coinciding with a by-election, oddly). By 1995 the last of the old trains had been withdrawn, having been replaced by the current Class 323 Electrical Multiple Unit s. Services are currently operated by Central Trains on behalf of Centro .

Current daytime service levels are:
  • between Redditch and Longbridge: 2 trains per hour

  • between Longbridge and Four Oaks: 6 trains per hour

  • between Four Oaks and Lichfield City: 4 trains per hour

  • between Lichfield City and Lichfield Trent Valley: 2 trains per hour


There are long-standing proposals for improvements to the line. Extra stations have been proposed for to allow two of the existing four tunnels to be used for local trains only (formerly favoured by Central Trains). With the current funding problems on Britain's railways, it is unlikely that the Cross-City Line will see any improvement.

There is also a highly detailed reproduction of the part between Redditch and Birmingham New Street for the free train simulator BVE : {Link without Title} .