Birmingham MP Preet Kaur Gill has met with Midlands Connect and other rail chiefs at University Station to discuss how plans for the Midlands Rail Hub could benefit her constituency.
The Midlands Rail Hub proposes building two ‘chords’ as well as over 10 further engineering interventions throughout the region to deliver a massive step change in rail transport in the Midlands. This will deliver up to 100 extra trains in to and out of Birmingham every single day and will help us deliver a ‘turn up and go’ service on the Cross City line benefitting University and Five Ways in Preet’s constituency.
Preet Kaur Gill, MP for Birmingham Edgbaston was joined by Councillor Majid Mahmood Birmingham City Council, Cabinet Member for Transport & Environment and representatives from West Midlands Rail Executive, West Midlands Trains and Network Rail.
Alongside this Midlands Connect highlighted how the Midlands Rail Hub, their flagship project could help support the government’s missions to cut the NHS waiting list by making access to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital better and more frequent via rail for patients.
Over the last few weeks, a series of Labour politicians like Dave Robertson MP from Lichfield, Laurence Turner MP from Birmingham Northfield, Al Carns MP for Selly Oak and Paulette Hamilton MP from Erdington have backed the improvements the Midlands Rail Hub will deliver to their constituencies including more frequent trains on the Cross City Line, giving 5 million more seats each year, and an associated upgrade of the station at Kings Norton.
Preet Kaur Gill, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston, said:
"As the MP for Birmingham, Edgbaston, I really welcome this investment in our railways.”
"University Station is one of the busiest in our city, and overcrowding has raised safety concerns. Increasing capacity on our railways will make travelling around our city easier and safer, and improve connectivity for those working and studying at the University of Birmingham. It will also benefit those travelling for leisure and to University Hospitals Birmingham.
"We are seeing lots of investment around the University, including the new life sciences park. Having transport infrastructure that can cope with increased capacity will work to support future jobs in the area."
Sarah Spink, Strategic Partnerships Lead, Midlands Connect said:
“University station and the surrounding university campus and hospital all show that if we can deliver the changes planned by the Midlands Rail Hub students, staff and patients will all see a massive boost.
“Being able to deliver faster and more frequent trains will be a boost for the NHS as we can people more quickly to this leading hospital -it can only make a positive difference to healthcare in the city.
“This all shows, to me, that the Midlands Rail Hub helps deliver against the government’s key missions of growth as well as health.”
Vicki Flindall, Director of Finance for Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) said:
“The Midlands Rail Hub will be a fantastic boost for over 12,000 people who work at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham – where we provide care for over one million patients each year.
“Faster and more frequent services make getting to our hospital by train increasingly attractive for the amazing professionals we need to provide life-saving and life-changing care every day, and ease of travel is vitally important for our patients, who come to us for expert care from right across the region, and beyond.
Toby Rackliff, Strategic Lead, Rail Policy at West Midlands Rail Executive added:
“Over the past 12 months three million passengers a year using University have benefitted from a vastly improved station and the introduction of new fleet of modern, comfortable, higher capacity trains.
Midlands Rail Hub will enable a 50% increase in the number of Cross-City services, supporting the growing demand for travel to both Birmingham University and the Queen Elisabeth Hospital.”
Image credit: Midlands Connect
