Action to ease train crowding nightmare
Trains through Stourbridge and Sandwell are the most overcrowded in the region during the morning commute on the Worcester to Birmingham line, a new report reveals.
Newer and faster trains, a new platform at Rowley Regis, and more parking spaces are among proposals included in the draft Regional Rail Network Development Plan being put together by Network Rail and transport authority Centro.
It is hoped the proposals will deal with problems outlined in the plan, which reveals the route has the highest level of overcrowding in the region during the morning rush.
The plan also says car parking is at capacity, and journeys between Stourbridge, Kidderminster and Worcester are relatively slow. Daily demand on the line has been increasing since services were increased to six trains per hour in 2004, it says.
The development plan is still in its draft stage and has yet to be approved. If it is, improvements are expected to take place over a 20-year period.
Improvements included in the draft plan include doubling the number of carriages on trains from three to six, increasing to eight or nine during peak hours to cope with the demand. The track layouts would be improved at Stourbridge Junction and Kidderminster with a new platform constructed at Rowley Regis station.
Access would be improved at Birmingham's Snow Hill station and Kidderminster station woul be upgraded.
More car parking spaces would be created at Stourbridge, Kidderminster, Cradley Heath and Rowley Regis and timetables altered to improve efficiency.
Dudley Council's cabinet member for transport, Councillor Angus Adams, said the measures would have an impact.
"Something has to be done because the rail network between Stourbridge and Birmingham is overcrowded at the moment.
"However, in terms of increasing the number of carriages, we have to ensure platforms along the route are able to cope."
Salesman Terry Shepherd, aged 52, of High Street, Amblecote, said there was standing room only after Stourbridge Junction on yesterday's 7.25am train.
"It was absolutely rammed. It's not a comfortable journey, and if there was an accident you'd be lucky to survive. I don't know how health and safety allow it," he said.
