The £1.7 million refurbishment of Longbridge station is now complete, with the upgrade providing an improved experience for rail passengers locally.
As well as a new entrance, glazed roof and cladding transforming the outside of the station, rooms inside have been removed and replaced with a larger concourse, with new automatic doors, flooring, ticket office and accessible toilet.
The project – delivered by Network Rail as part of Britain’s Railway Upgrade Plan and funded by Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) – certainly provides an improvement to the frontage.
‘Bright and modern’
Harpreet Singh-Moore, scheme project manager at Network Rail, said: “This major overhaul of Longbridge station is a huge improvement for the tens of thousands of West Midlands Trains passengers who use the station each week.
“[…] the new facilities create a bright and modern transport hub for an area which is being regenerated by new business, leisure and housing developments.”
‘Improved experience’
Francis Thomas, head of corporate affairs for West Midlands Railway, said: “It is great to see new investment in Longbridge station. Travelling by rail in the West Midlands has never been more popular. This redevelopment has significantly improved the experience for our passengers. The concourse area is now much brighter and spacious and also more accessible, thanks to the installation of adjustable ticket office counters and a new accessible toilet.”
‘Welcoming gateway’
Richard Burden, MP for Birmingham Northfield, said: “Along with other local stakeholders I have been pressing for years for the transformation of this station both to provide today’s Longbridge town centre with the welcoming gateway it deserves and to create a modern public transport hub serving local residents, businesses and Bournville College. These improvements are an important step towards achieving those objectives.”
Future improvements
The investment for the project came from the £70 million National Stations Improvement Programme (NSIP) which is helping to transform railway stations across the country.
Mr Thomas, West Midlands Railway, said: “Passengers using the Cross City Line will see more improvements over the coming years as we invest £1bn into upgrading our services across our network. This will include new trains for Longbridge commuters, with more capacity on this popular route.”
Mr Burden added: “The next stage of the improvements to Longbridge station will come with the opening of a new multi-storey Park and Ride car park next to the station which will be much bigger than the surface car park that has been there until now. As the new car park will be on the same site as the old one, the downside of the project is that Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) – who run the car park – have had to close the old one while the new one is being built. The new Park and Ride car park is scheduled to open in spring 2020.”
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