West Midlands railway stations on track for upgrades
Railway stations in the Black Country are on a shortlist for improvements to help them deal with the expected surge in use over the next decade.
Wolverhampton Railway Station is on a development time line 'by 2024' under a recently released West Midlands & Chilterns Route Study by Network Rail.
The station is already subject to planned work next year to replace it with an interchange, combining rail and Midland Metro services.
Walsall, Smethwick Galton Bridge and Dudley Port are on a 'longer term' development plan.
The stations are among 19 in the West Midlands down for improvements.
The report states: "Station capacity is an important consideration in accommodating demand across the West Midlands and Chilterns area.
"Stations form an integral part of a passengers' journey and if sufficient capacity is compromised, walk times, inconvenience and congestion can impact on running an efficient operation.
"Providing the necessary space at stations is crucial to achieving higher frequency services, maintaining performance levels, running longer train and ensuring passenger comfort.
The study predicted usage of Wolverhampton Railway Station would increase from 4.75 million people in 2013-14 to up to 7.1 million in 2023.
It said platforms one and two were the busiest parts of the station, adding the entrance and concourse area were 'quite narrow and restricted'. The report also said the planned automatic ticket gates as part of an upcoming station could restrict flows of people.
Work is to begin on the new station next year after plans were approved by the City of Wolverhampton Council.
But more work, including extending platform five, which serves the Wolverhampton to Walsall services, has been put forward under the report.
Galton Bridge, at Smethwick, was also looked at by the report, which found passengers found it difficult to find their way around the multi-level platforms.
At Dudley Port railway station the authors found the staircase width was too narrow to accommodate peak time flows of passengers.
The station consists of an island platform with a waiting shelter.
The report said: "Passengers cluster around the waiting shelter entrance and at the top of the staircase, extending queues and increasing journey time when boarding and alighting.
"This can cause performance issues on the line due to the dense concentration of passenger around these areas." At Walsall railway station the report found usage will rise from 1.29 million people in 2013-14 to 1.9 million in 2023.
