West Midlands Railway has announced that it is introducing a new leaf fall timetable on the Cross City line this year.

This is aimed at reducing disruption to passengers who are travelling to and from Birmingham city centre.

The autumn timetable will operate from Monday 15 October until Friday 7 December 2018.

This will affect services from Lichfield, through Birmingham New Street, to Redditch and Bromsgrove.

Some trains on the route will have an amended stopping pattern on weekdays. The normal timetable will operate from 2000 hours in the evenings and at weekends.

The focus is on maintaining a normal level of service for commuters travelling to and from the Birmingham city centre. From Mondays to Fridays, trains heading towards Birmingham New Street to arrive before 0930, will call at all stations. Trains heading out of the city after 1530 will also call at all stops as normal.

Where stations are missed, two trains per hour will run non-stop between Birmingham New Street and Sutton Coldfield and two trains per hour will run non-stop between Selly Oak and Longbridge. Trains will only skip stops on one section of railway per journey.

The leaf fall timetable involves missing out some stops on the route to help deal with slippery rail conditions.

What did the officials say?

Richard Brooks, customer experience director for West Midlands Railway said:

“Autumn presents us with some major operational challenges on Cross City line, where services are frequent and well used throughout the day.

“We have listened to customer feedback, and I believe that this year’s timetable strikes a realistic balance between offering a safe solution for drivers and keeping our passengers moving, with minimal delays.

“The introduction of an autumn timetable has helped improve punctuality by almost fifty per cent, compared to dealing with issues on an ad-hoc basis. In turn, this offers a more reliable service and enables passengers to plan ahead.”

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