Transport in Birmingham

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Birmingham is a major transport hub, due in part to its location in central England. Public transport in the city is overseen by the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive whose public brand is Centro/Network West Midlands.

Contents 1 Railways 1.1 Mainline services 1.2 Local services 1.3 Midland Metro 1.4 Underground system 2 Buses and coaches 3 Roads 4 Taxis 5 Air 6 Canals 7 References

[edit] Railways

[edit] Mainline services

A large number of railway lines meet at Birmingham New Street, which is a hub of the UK rail network.^[1] Trains to London Marylebone station can also be caught at Moor Street station or Snow Hill station, though Snow Hill's London services are due to be diverted into Moor Street station in 2009.^[2]

New Street Station will be redeveloped in a £500 million scheme named Gateway Plus. The project will improve passenger facilities and increase passenger capacity at the station, which is running at over capacity.^[3]

An alternative scheme has been suggested by Arup^[4], which would involve the construction of a new station adjacent to Moor Street Station, so that the approaches to the New Street could be improved and the station would provide better interchange facilities. The amount of land required would be very large and would also require the loss of proposed redevelopment projects in the Eastside area. The station would stretch from Moor Street to the former mainline station at Curzon Street. Arup have named the project 'Birmingham Grand Central'. The projected cost of the new station is over £500 million.^[4]

[edit] Local services

There is a network of rail services within Birmingham and the West Midlands county, operated by London Midland and supported by Centro/Network West Midlands, among the main lines is the Cross-City Line, which operates from Lichfield through Birmingham New Street to Redditch. A similar rail service operates from Wolverhampton through New Street to Coventry.

A study of capacity of New Street Station found that there was adequate capacity for the existing and planned services for a few more years^{[citation needed]}. A footnote stated that this assumed a number of minor improvements on the local network including the Bordesley Curve and the Benson Road Chord. The improvements would divert some existing and proposed services into Snow Hill and achieve a Snow Hill Network.

[edit] Midland Metro

Main article: Midland Metro

The Midland Metro, a light-rail tram system promoted by Centro/Network West Midlands, connects Birmingham to Wolverhampton via West Bromwich and Wednesbury. Further expansion in Birmingham City Centre has been approved^[5], however, government officials said no decision would be made on funding the plans until 2008.^[6] There are plans to extend the system across Birmingham and the West Midlands.^[7]

[edit] Underground system

In the early 1950s, the government planned to protect essential communications by building a series of hardened underground telephone exchanges. Construction of the Anchor exchange in Birmingham started in 1953 with a cover story that a new underground rail network was being built. Work progressed until 1956 when the public were told the project was no longer economic;^[8] instead Birmingham got its underpasses through the city to help relieve congestion. An underground exchange and tunnel system 100ft below Newhall Street had been completed at a cost £4 million. The main tunnel runs from Anchor to Midland ATE in Hill Street, from there the tunnel continued under New Street Station and on to the exchange in Essex Street.^[8]

More recently, the Conservative-Lib-Dem alliance running Birmingham City Council proposed an underground system as an alternative to expansion of the Midland Metro.^[9] A £150,000 feasibility study^[10] was conducted, looking at the benefits and drawbacks of a state-of-the-art, £3 billion underground system serving the city.^[11] Upon the outcome of the report, the city council backed plans for a street metro system.^[12]

[edit] Buses and coaches

Over 90% of public transport use in the West Midlands is by bus.^[13] There are approximately 50 operators of registered local bus services in the West Midlands. The largest bus operator in the area is National Express West Midlands, which accounts for over 80% of all journeys. National Express West Midlands operates a large network based on a range of services radiating out of Birmingham City Centre (there is only one Cross City service) and the Birmingham Outer Circle bus service, the longest urban bus service in Europe^{[citation needed]} which chiefly follows the A4040 circular road.

Most of the network is operated on a commercial basis, with some services (usually evenings and Sundays) supported by Centro. Smaller operators provide a range of services, either in competition with National Express West Midlands or under contract to Centro. These include Central Connect (which is made up of the merger of Zak's ^[14] and Birmingham Motor Traction and recently purchased Diamond Bus), Central Logistics, Choice Travel (part of D&G^[15]) and Redwing Contracts. Medium distance bus services from Birmingham include First Wyvern (formally First Midland Red) operating services to Worcester and Redditch. Arriva operates services to Tamworth & Kingsbury in Staffordshire. Warwickshire County Council also funds a service to Stratford-upon-Avon operated by Stagecoach in Warwickshire (formally known as Stratford Blue).

Despite the large number of buses serving Birmingham City Centre there is no longer a bus station. Instead buses use bus stops on surrounding roads which are given a two lettered code, beginning with the name of the street (e.g. Carrs Lane = C*).

The airport can also be reached via an express bus service from Coleshill Parkway station, on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line which run four times per hour and take around fifteen minutes.

Birmingham is also a major hub in the National Express coach network, whose headquarters are in Birmingham. The group will operate services from its hub at Digbeth Coach Station, which is currently being rebuilt. A temporary coach station is located in nearby Oxford Street.^[16] The company's flagship NXL Shuttle service operates services to London with frequent services to all major airports and cities in Britain. Many of these are cross-country services operating from north to south, for which Birmingham provides interchange facilities. Birmingham also has a Megabus service to London.

[edit] Roads

The M40 motorway is the more direct motorway route towards London. The M6 motorway also connects Birmingham to London (via the M1, therefore it is less direct) and the south, and the north-west of England and Scotland. Junction 6 of the M6 is also one of Birmingham's landmarks, and probably the most notable motorway junction in the UK: Spaghetti Junction, officially called the Gravelly Hill Interchange. Other local motorways include:

• The A38(M) which links Spaghetti Junction to the city centre
• The M5, connecting Birmingham to the south-west of England
• The M42, which connects Birmingham to Tamworth and the East Midlands
• The M6 Toll, which enables through traffic on the M6 to bypass Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

Birmingham, unlike London and Manchester, does not have a single orbital motorway. Instead, three motorways form a box which surrounds most of Birmingham- but not Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley and Stourbridge. These are:

• The M42 which forms the southern and eastern sections. In the middle, the M40 terminates, which has its junction built with priority for traffic going from the M40 to the M42 west, instead of the more obvious M42 east-west priority. The M40 goes off south to Warwick, Oxford, High Wycombe and London.
• The M5 which forms the western section.
• The M6 which forms the northern section. The M5 terminates on the M6.

Other major roads passing through Birmingham include:

• The A34 from Manchester to Winchester
• The A38 from Mansfield to Bodmin
• The A41 from London to Birkenhead
• The A45 from Birmingham to Thrapston (formerly to Felixstowe)
• The A47 from Birmingham to Great Yarmouth
• The A4540 'Middleway' ring road
• The A4040 Outer Ring Road

[edit] Taxis

Black Cab taxis can be flagged down anywhere in the city or can be found waiting at designated taxi ranks in the city centre such as Broad Street, New Street, Corporation Street etc.

Private hire taxis will always need to be pre-booked as flagging one down is illegal and such journeys are not insured.

[edit] Air

Birmingham is served by Birmingham International Airport, located in the Borough of Solihull to the east of Birmingham, which has flights to Europe, Dubai, Islamabad and New York. The airport is served by the railway network at Birmingham International railway station, also located in Solihull. Train services are provided by Virgin Trains or London Midland on contract to Centro/Network West Midlands.

Bus services also operate from the airport to Coleshill Parkway railway station on the Birmingham - Leicester railway line. This link improves access to the East Midlands as well as providing further links to North Warwickshire and South-east Staffordshire.

The airport also has 4 major bus services running into Birmingham. These are the 38 (Birmingham - Olton - International Airport), 58 (Birmingham - Small Heath - Yardley - International Airport), 900 (Birmingham - International Airport - Coventry) and the 966 (Erdington - International Station - Solihull Station). The majority of bus services are run by National Express West Midlands (formally known as Travel West Midlands) with other various Warwickshire County Council funded services such as the 757 and 777 operating from here. Central Connect service 58N has now been withdrawn from service.

[edit] Canals

There are no usable rivers: the Rea, on which the City was founded, is little more than a culverted stream, and the Tame, which only passes through the northern suburbs, is not navigable. The River Cole which runs through the south-east of the city through to the north west is too shallow for anything bigger than a raft to be able to sail upon it.

However, Birmingham is at the hub of the country's canal network. There are 35 miles (60 km) of canals within the city, of which most are navigable. Birmingham is often described as having more miles of canal than Venice. This is technically correct (Venice has 26 miles). However, Birmingham is far larger than Venice [1], so the latter has a far higher concentration of canals; and the type of waterway is very different.

Extensive regeneration of the canals has taken place since the 1980s, including dredging to enable the smooth passage of narrowboats and investment in and construction of canalside living accommodation. Similar development is planned for the Eastside area in Digbeth.

Canals in Birmingham include:

• The Birmingham Canal Navigations network, including the BCN Main Line and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal
• The Birmingham and Worcester Canal
• The Grand Union Canal.

Birmingham has several reservoirs to feed its canals, including:

• Edgbaston Reservoir
• Lifford Reservoir

[edit] References

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