West Midlands Mayor Andy Street says a £30 million project to restore rail services to Aldridge for the first time in almost 60 years have taken a major step forward after securing Government backing.
The Department for Transport has given conditional approval to start work on an outline business case to build and open a station on the Sutton Park line to provide direct passenger services to Walsall.
Andy, who leads the West Midlands Combined Authority, said: “This is fantastic news for Aldridge and major step forward in our ambition to get reopen a station and get passenger services up and running.
“We have already been through this process with other stations in the south of Birmingham, which are now being built, so we know what we have to do now that we have this funding in place.
“With diggers already in the ground working on three new stations on the Camp Hill line alongside Darlaston and Willenhall stations on the Walsall to Wolverhampton line, Aldridge will be a very welcome sixth addition to our region.
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to public transport and so we will continue to seek to revive even more stations and passenger services in the months and years ahead.”
Thefunding means that the project, which is being led by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and the West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE), can move to the detailed design and development phase.
Aldridge sits on the Sutton Park freight line between Walsall and east Birmingham, which closed to passenger services as part of the Beeching cuts in 1965.
The proposal is for a new single platform station to be built on the edge of Aldridge Town Centre, with road access from Westfield Drive.
Current plans are that the station will initially be served by a half-hourly diesel shuttle service to Walsall taking just six minutes. At Walsall there will be cross-platform interchange with electric services to and from Birmingham giving an overall Aldridge to Birmingham journey time of around 38 minutes.
Walsall Council leader Cllr Mike Bird, who is WMCA portfolio lead for transport and, said: “Having its own station will provide a huge benefit for the residents of Aldridge giving them easier access to jobs, leisure and education opportunities further afield.
“It will also improve access for workers and visitors to Aldridge’s town centre and industrial parks giving much needed support to local businesses.”
Andy has worked with Aldridge-Brownhills MP Wendy Morton on the proposals.
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.