Passenger Again?

Two stations lined up for Sutton Park
Monday, April 05, 2010, 09:00

[http://www.thisissuttoncoldfield.co.uk/news/stations-lined-Sutton-Park/article-1966651-detail/article.html]

FURTHER details of proposals to reopen Sutton Park's freight railway to passengers have emerged.

Documents reveal that of the five stations planned across Sutton, two are earmarked for the 2,400-acre nature reserve.

Reports also show the predicted passenger numbers for various stations along the reinstated route, plus the individual costs of building them.

The Observer reported last week that the project was being discussed as part of local authority plans to reopen a network connecting Walsall to Birmingham.

The service, possibly half-hourly, would begin at the existing Walsall Station and end at Birmingham Moor Street, calling in order at Streetly, Sutton Park, another central Sutton site, Walmley and Minworth.


Documents show that the new stop planned for Streetly cannot be realised at the area's former station site due to other development there.

It means an alternative spot, potentially costing £3.2m, has been identified east of Thornhill Road and within the Sutton Park boundary.

Next stop in the journey would be another park stop, dubbed Sutton Park Station. Around £2.8m would be needed to build on the remnants of the beauty spot's disused station site where only a platform remains.

Only 800 metres away lies the proposed site of Sutton Town Station. For £2.5m, it too would be built on the site of a former station, located in Midland Drive.

Walmley would follow suit and, for £2.5m, work within the site of the previous Penns Lane Station. A £3.8m station in Minworth, close to Midpoint Park, would complete the five.

Trains would then call at new stations on the outskirts of Sutton – Castle Bromwich and Fort Parkway – before heading into the city.

Annual passenger demand for a half-hourly service at the five Sutton stations is respectively projected at 82,000, 62,000, 58,000, 71,000 and 142,000.

That could help contribute to a congestion-busting 1.7m new rail journeys a year. The figure is worked out based on two trains per hour between Walsall and Moor Street and another two per hour on a line linking Tamworth and Moor Street, which forms part of a wider plan.

At an operational cost of £9.5m per year, the two lines would converge at Castle Bromwich, with the Tamworth stretch predicted to generate the most passenger demand and therefore make sounder business sense.

It means that local authorities across the region, which commissioned a feasibility study into the project, have decided to prioritise the Tamworth plans. Councils are now investigating how infrastructure can be overhauled to allow terminus platforms at Moor Street.

However, the disused Sutton Park and Sutton Town station sites are set to be formally protected, allowing them to be resurrected in the future.

During a meeting of Sutton Coldfield Constituency Committee last week, councillors broadly welcomed the proposals. But a note of caution was sounded by Cllr Peter Howard (Four Oaks, Con), who doubted the plan would be realised within the lifetime of committee members.

He said that a paradox of reinvigorating rail travel was that it encouraged a greater number of motorists to seek out stations for park-and-ride opportunities.

Studies show there would be no parking opportunities at Streetly, Sutton Town and Walmley. Minworth and Sutton Park Stations could generate 185 and 50 spaces respectively.