Scope

The Midlands Connect area stretches from Bristol and Cardiff in the south west to Nottingham in the north east, with destinations including (but not limited to) Derby, Leicester and Hereford, as well as more local destinations.

Freight services will also be improved through the interventions, removing bottlenecks and opening up capacity on diversionary routes.

MRH will be implemented as a programme of works across the Midlands region, as works will be required away from the core area of central Birmingham in order to realise the desired outcome. Outputs in terms of extra trains will be implemented incrementally as works are completed, with the ultimate aim of programme completion by 2032.

It is anticipated that the works undertaken under MRH will be deemed Significant under CSM and require authorisation under the Railways (Interoperability) Regulations 2011. Each project within the programme will be considered separately in order to determine its own requirements. Please see Appendix A for further details.

When the project was initiated the key output was to facilitate the introduction of 10 additional train services per hour in each direction (revised to 7tph later – see below) to/from Central Birmingham that have the greatest potential economic value to the region. These services may be introduced into Birmingham Moor Street and Snow Hill stations as well as New Street. It is assumed that these services will operate to the best current journey times, where comparable services operate. These are set out in the Indicative Train Service Specification (ITSS).

The project has been split into two corridors and the composition of the additional trains (to the May 2020 timetable) will be:

• Southwest Corridor – 5tph Birmingham to Hereford, Bristol and Cardiff
• One additional train per hour Birmingham to Hereford - This service will operate via Worcester
• One additional train per hour Birmingham to Bristol - Using existing cross-country route
• One additional train per hour Birmingham to Cardiff - This service may operate via Gloucester or Bristol Parkway
• Two additional trains per hour Birmingham to Kings Norton - These services will operate via the Camp Hill lines to Kings Norton or an alternative, more suitable turn-back location.
• East Midlands Corridor – 5tph Birmingham to Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Lincoln.
•  Two additional trains per hour Birmingham to Leicester - These services will operate via Nuneaton
• One additional train per hour Birmingham to Nottingham - This service may or may not operate via Derby.
• Two additional trains per hour Birmingham to Burton-on-Trent/Derby - Should the service (b) operate via Derby, then only one of these services is required to serve Derby. Should the service (b) not operate via Derby then both of the services (c) will be extended to Derby.

After the Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) the project split the development of the Outline Business Case (OBC) into two work streams based upon the corridors (Southwest and Central, East Midlands) and based upon the findings from the business case and available funding from the DfT. In 2022 a decision was made by the DfT that the East Midlands Corridor should be revised to Birmingham – Leicester only. Therefore, the MRH ITSS has been revised from 10tph to 7tph with the services being divided geographically as listed below and illustrated in Figure 1.

• Southwest Corridor – Birmingham to Hereford, Bristol and Cardiff – Total 5tph.  These are as originally outlined above with minor changes:
• One additional train per hour Birmingham to Hereford - This service will operate via Worcester
• One additional train per hour Birmingham to Bristol - Using existing cross-country route
•  One additional train per hour Birmingham to Cardiff - This service operates via Gloucester and Lydney
• Two additional trains per hour Birmingham to Kings Norton - These services will operate via the Camp Hill lines to Kings Norton or an alternative, more suitable turn-back location.
• East Midlands Corridor – Birmingham to Leicester – Total 2tph
• Two additional trains per hour Birmingham to Leicester - These services will operate via Nuneaton.

These services are shown diagrammatically in Figure 1.  Figure 2 shows geographical extent of MRH.