West Midlands Mayor Andy Street says that Aldridge people looking forward to their new station being built can take heart from the start of construction at another new station down the line at Willenhall.
Mr Street, who heads the West Midlands Combined Authority, has been campaigning to reopen Aldridge’s railway station for years alongside local MP Wendy Morton – and now he says in 2023 it’s ‘full steam ahead’ to get the project over the line.
Mr Street said: “Reopening old railway stations is a key part of my transport plans for the West Midlands, with work already begun on sites in the South of Birmingham like Moseley.
“I have also been determined to see passenger services return to the line between Wolverhampton and Walsall, which of course passes through Aldridge.
“We’re making huge progress in this ambition – the site has been bought, and now we’re looking at securing car parking for the new station.
“But the message has to be it’s ‘full steam ahead’ for Aldridge – this is no longer just a proposal, we’re making it happen.
“If local people want evidence of that they can look just a little further down the line to Willenhall, where diggers are now in the ground and work has begun to build the new station.”
Transport chiefs aim to open the station at Aldridge, which would cater for 500,000 passengers a year with two trains an hour running to Walsall and Birmingham New Street.
Last year they secured £400,000 to purchase a site for the station in Aldridge, with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) agreeing to buy NHS-owned land next to the Anchor Meadow Health Centre off Westfield Drive.
The original Aldridge Station was opened by the Midland Railway in 1879. In 1923 it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway before passing to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.
The station lies on the Sutton Park line, currently only used by freight services.