The Department for Transport (DfT) has today announced that work on designing the ‘Midlands Rail Hub’ will begin soon.

The DfT claims that the Hub will be “transformational” and will “benefit millions of people”.

After disappointing many with its announcement at Conservative Party conference last year that HS2 would not go ahead north of Birmingham, the government is eager to show that it will use the money saved to improve existing rail services.

Of the reported £36 billion saved by the cancellation, ministers have agreed an initial £123 million funding for the Midlands project, which it expects to cost £1.75 billion in total. The total bill has increased from the £1.5 billion reported less than a year ago, and will be paid by the Network North transport plan.

The ‘hub’ is a project to upgrade stations and increase train services across the Midlands. In its first phase, there will be one extra train per hour in each direction between central Birmingham and destinations including Cardiff, Bristol, Cheltenham and Worcester.

The initial funding will pay for the start of design work on creating space for the extra services, including detailed designs for infrastructure improvements and operating plans for the new services.

Elements of the project will include:

• Improved services at more than fifty stations, used seven million people in total
• More London-to-Birmingham services extended from Birmingham’s Moor Street to Snow Hill station, meaning that the Chiltern line will also serve Birmingham’s Snow Hill business district
• Kings Norton station to be made more accessible
• Upgraded platforms at Snow Hill, Moor Street and Kings Norton stations
• Greater passenger access to HS2 services via Curzon Street station
• Services on most routes increased by between 50% and 100%
• A ‘turn-up-and-go’ service on Birmingham’s Cross-City line, with trains every ten minutes
• Four trains per hour between Birmingham and Leicester
• Additional trains between Birmingham and Nottingham
• Birmingham-to-Worcester trains extended to Hereford.

Also today (Thursday 29 February), the British Business Bank launched a £400 million Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, aiming to provide extra funding to help smaller businesses in the Midlands.

The fund will support new and growing businesses across the region, making early-stage finance more readily available and offering loans from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investments up to £5 million.

The government recently announced that £2.2 billion of the HS2 savings will be given over a nine-year period from April 2025 to improve transport connections in Midlands areas outside the City Regions, which it says “will give local authorities long term certainty to invest in transport improvements such as building new roads and installing or expanding mass transit systems”.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “The Midlands Rail Hub will bring huge benefits to passengers in the region and beyond, so it’s great to be in Birmingham with Mayor Andy Street to kick start this important project.

“Today’s announcement is part of the Government’s plan to invest in transport projects with reallocated HS2 funding, helping to grow the economy and better connect communities across the Midlands.”

Andy Street, Mayor of West Midlands and chair of the West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) said: “The Midlands Rail Hub will deliver a revolution in public transport for our region opening up more capacity on the routes in and out of central Birmingham which will allow us to run more services to more places both locally and nationally.

“Midlands Rail Hub will also provide an opportunity for us to open more new stations and lines across our network as well as deliver faster journey times into central Birmingham from the new Camp Hill line stations that are currently under construction at Moseley Village, Kings Heath and Pineapple Road.

“This investment will not only better connect communities to convenient and rapid public transport services but also attract further investment into our region, delivering jobs, growth and greater prosperity.

“It’s important not to forget that this new funding comes on top of the billions of pounds worth of transport investment we have already secured for the West Midlands. That funding is really significant and will help turbo-charge our plans to improve public transport across the region, connecting local people to education, training, health and leisure services as well as job opportunities.”

Maria Machancoses, Chief Executive of Midlands Connect, said: “This announcement marks a major milestone in this transformational, nationally significant project.

“The Midlands Rail Hub programme is the result of years of collaboration and determination by cross-party leaders from all corners of the Midlands.

“Today’s £123m announcement is a clear sign of Government’s trust in our partnership – getting us closer to finally delivering much need east-west connectivity across the region.

“We will continue to work with Government to progress the plans and ensure, as set out in Network North, Midlands Rail Hub is delivered in full, extending the benefits to towns and cities like Hereford, Nottingham, Derby and Leicester.”