Local businesses urged to have their say on Midlands Rail Hub

Credit: Midlands Connect

Midlands Connect have today (8 May 2023) launched an online business survey and are urging local firms to ‘make their voices heard’ over plans for the flagship rail improvement project, the Midlands Rail Hub – a £900 million to £1.5 billion blueprint for faster, better and more frequent connections across the Midlands, UK.

Passenger rail usage in the Midlands is growing faster than anywhere else in the UK, but Midlands Connect say that without investment, the region’s rail network can’t keep pace with this record demand, and many services remain slow and infrequent.  

The scheme will add more than 14 million more seats on the rail network each year and provide faster, more frequent or new rail links for over 30 locations including: Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Nuneaton, Worcester, Hereford, Cardiff, Bristol, Cheltenham and Leicester. It will also bring 1.6 million more people to within an hour of the region’s biggest towns and cities by public transport.

The Midlands Rail Hub proposes building two ‘chords’ as well as 11 further engineering interventions throughout the region to deliver a massive step change in rail transport in the Midlands. The project will also maximise the benefits of HS2 and safeguard 1,600 jobs in the engineering and construction sector.

Midlands Connect Senior Rail Programme Manager, Andy Clark, said: “We are calling on employers and businesses throughout the Midlands to get involved in our online consultation to ensure their voices are heard. We want to know what the impact the Midlands Rail Hub could have on businesses and specifically if it could lead to more jobs being created and increased growth in the local economy.”

Andy continued: “Through providing new chords and platforms in Birmingham, it provides capacity for up to 10 additional trains per hour in and out of the city, to locations in the Midlands and beyond. We are really keen to hear from businesses in Bromsgrove, Nuneaton, Hereford, Worcester and firms throughout the Midlands and all the data given to us by local businesses will be weaved into future work we are submitting to government to help make the case for investment in this nationally critical rail project.”

This survey will close on 16 June 2023 with results to be announced soon after.