Chiltern Railways warns passengers to check before they travel ahead of four-day Birmingham railway closure

Chiltern Railways has issued an update to customers ahead of a four-day railway closure between Dorridge and Birmingham Moor Street.

The Chiltern mainline between these stations will be closed between Monday 20^th June and Thursday 23^rd June inclusive, as work continues to prepare the railway for the Commonwealth Games. The closure will also affect other services across the network.

Network Rail’s £3m investment to overhaul switches and crossings will mean that crucial parts of the railway will be replaced to help services run smoothly during a summer in which one million extra passenger journeys are expected to take place across the West Midlands.

The essential upgrades will impact the following routes and services between Monday 20 and Thursday 23 June:

• On the Chiltern mainline between London Marylebone and Birmingham, there will be no trains between Birmingham Moor Street/Snow Hill and Dorridge
• On the Chiltern mainline between Dorridge and London Marylebone, one train per hour will run
• On the Shakespeare line to Stratford-upon-Avon, there will be no West Midlands Trains services between Birmingham Moor Street and Spring Road stations

A replacement bus service will be in operation between Dorridge and Birmingham International, allowing passengers to connect with train services running to/from Birmingham New Street. Ticket acceptance with CrossCountry is in operation throughout this period, meaning that passengers travelling from Leamington Spa and Banbury can board services to Birmingham New Street.

Because of issues stopping buses outside of Birmingham Moor Street station, no buses will serve this station throughout the blockade period.

During this time, Chiltern Railways and Network Rail will be conducting a deep clean of Birmingham Moor Street to improve customer experience and working with volunteers on replanting and the repainting of benches around the station.

There is an amended timetable in place across the rest of the network during this time, so all passengers are advised to check before they travel.

Passengers can find our plans for rail replacement transport at https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/major-weekday-engineering-20-23-june-buses-will-replace-trains-some-routes, and check train times on the Chiltern Railways website or app.

Eleni Jordan, Commercial & Customer Strategy Director for Chiltern Railways, said: 

"Network Rail's crucial track replacement work between Monday 20 and Thursday 23 June will ensure that we can continue to provide a safe and reliable service for our customers across what is expected to be a busy summer on the railways in the West Midlands.

We will be regularly communicating plans for rail replacement transport in and out of Birmingham. We advise that customers travelling during the closure check their journey on the Chiltern website or app before travelling."

Denise Wetton, Network Rail’s Central Route Director, said: 

“There’s never an ideal time to close the railway and a mid-week closure for work like this is rare, but post-pandemic passenger numbers in and out of Birmingham show that on this occasion, this is the least disruptive time to carry out vital work.

These upgrades will improve the network not only at Tyseley but across the wider West Midlands, providing passengers with a cleaner, fresher, more reliable railway throughout our major summer of sport. It will also help to reduce the risk of platforms becoming overcrowded as a result of the predicted one million extra passenger journeys during the Commonwealth Games.”