Spring brings welcome news for B’grove’s rail passengers

If you travel on West Midlands Railway’s Hereford to Birmingham New Street service to and from Bromsgrove, you may have enjoyed being in some shiny new rolling stock which will have improved your journey.

The new train fleet - Class 196 - was introduced in May between Great Malvern and New Street. Initially a small number of journeys will be run by this fleet, as it is drip-fed gradually into service and extended to journeys beyond Great Malvern, once more trains become available and more drivers are trained to operate them.

The four car trains in the fleet have a total seating capacity for 311 passengers, which is an approximate increase of 25% over the Class 170 /172s currently used on the service.

Other benefits include smart air-conditioning which reacts to the carriage environment, free wi-fi, plug and USB sockets at every seat, more tables with improved under-seat storage, digital screens featuring live journey information, improved accessibility (including one accessible toilet per train), more bicycle storage (enabling three bikes to be carried), and clear luggage racks to remind passengers not to leave their belongings.

There is also another benefit of the increased seating capacity. On the pre-May 21st timetables, there is a weekday train leaving Hereford at 7.10am. Currently it passes through Bromsgrove at 8.14am approximately, but does not stop, the reason given for it not doing so is ‘excessive passenger loading (from the stations between Hereford and Droitwich) prior to a Bromsgrove arrival’.

However, the increased seating capacity of the Class 196s would overcome this problem, and enable this train to stop at Bromsgrove at a key time, both to allow business commuters and students to alight at Bromsgrove station and to pick up passengers for University station i.e. for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and University of Birmingham and then for New Street.

With the introduction of the Class 196s, BARRUP will be pressing WMR to introduce Bromsgrove stops on both these services. It’s important to remember that travelling by train, instead of by car, can save up to 70% of carbon dioxide emissions.

by Nick Taylor memsec@bromsgroverail.org.uk