West Midlands mayor Andy Street has announced that seven acres of land in Darlaston have been secured to build a new railway station.
The original station in Darlaston, which has a population of around 30,000, closed in 1965. It was located on the Walsall-Wolverhampton line, which saw regular, direct services withdrawn more than a decade ago.
West Midlands Combined Authority’s recent Housing Deal with the Government will see a Land Fund of £100 million to buy and clean up land, much of it focused on the Walsall to Wolverhampton corridor, delivering at least 8,000 new homes.
That regeneration, together with a new station at Darlaston and the neighbouring town of Willenhall, is expected to generate the additional passenger demand to sustain the return of services to the rail line.
The two new stations are expected to cost around £18 million in total and could be open by 2021.
Like this story? Follow RailStaff on Facebook to keep up to date with rail industry news
Andy Street said: “This is another important step towards restoring rail passenger services to a community which hasn’t had a station now for over half a century.”
“With ambitious housing and investment taking place on brownfield sites across the Black Country, this is a vital piece of infrastructure which will make a huge difference.
“The work is currently underway to establish what we need to do to get the Wolverhampton to Walsall line usable for passenger services again and we expect an announcement about this soon.”
A business case for the stations will need to be submitted to the WMCA board for approval but work has already been commissioned to look at possible future timetables for the line.
The aim is to start with an hourly service between Walsall and Wolverhampton and another hourly service between Birmingham and Wolverhampton calling at Tame Bridge, Darlsaston and Willenhall.
Read more: First stage of repairs completed at Nottingham station following major blaze
Comments are closed.