MP in funding call to kick start 'Stourbridge Dasher' light rail scheme
An MP has called for funding to kick start a new passenger service on a rail line through the Black Country.
Suzanne Webb says the Stourbridge Dasher – which will run along the four-mile stretch between Stourbridge Junction and Brierley Hill – will be "transformative" for the region.
She has vowed to lobby the Department for Transport and West Midlands Mayor Andy Street for the £50,000 needed to launch a feasibility study into the project.
Speaking in parliament this week, the Stourbridge MP said: "The Dasher will be transformative. It will run along an old passenger line and extend the branch line, and restore an important economic link.
"It is railway restoration at its very best. The Dasher would reinstate passenger services on a four-mile, freight-only branch line between Stourbridge Junction, and Round Oak and Brierley Hill, and the terminus at Brierley Hill would link it to the West Midlands Metro tramline extension, which is expected to open in 2025.
"Of 1,500 people surveyed in my constituency, 87 per cent were in favour of the Dasher and would make use of it."
Light rail contractor Pre Metro Operations, which runs the Stourbridge Shuttle, has put forward a business case for the Dasher, which has also been backed by Dudley South MP Mike Wood.
Ms Webb, who visited Ironbridge to see the Revolution VLR hybrid diesel electric powertrain that could be used on the line, said the Dasher would have "huge benefits".
"It would link Stourbridge to the wider Black Country, opening passenger travel between some of the region’s most deprived areas," she said.
"It would be good for areas such as Amblecote and Brierley Hill, with stations planned at Vicarage Road and Brettell Lane, and good for jobs by increasing the ease of travel, taking the burden off roads such as the A461, and sparing residents from frequent traffic jams.
"Pre Metro Operations has done a brilliant job of putting together a business case, through work done out of dedication and love of the branch line, and with innovative thinking.
"I am genuinely excited about the future possibilities of making the Stourbridge Shuttle into a Dasher.
"The project needs only £50,000 for an initial feasibility study to kick it off. I do not think that is too much to ask for."
