Transport for West Midlands has chosen VolkerFitzpatrick to build three stations on the restored Camp Hill line between Kings Norton and Birmingham New Street. The route was closed during the Second World War in 1941. The £61 million scheme will provide stations at Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell. Design is under way and work on the site is set to start in November, with the intention of completing the stations within a year. The West Midlands Combined Authority is providing £36 million towards the cost, with £20 million from the Department for Transport and the remaining £5 million from Birmingham City Council’s clean air zone fund. Partners in the project include Network Rail and West Midlands Railway. TfWM’s director of rail Malcolm Holmes, who is also the executive director of the West Midlands Rail Executive, said: ‘This is a major milestone towards seeing passenger trains restored on the Camp Hill line, with the contractor in place and construction crews gearing up to get on site. ‘This means, that after several years of planning and development, we are now entering the final phase and it will not be too long before these stations are complete and open.’

Rail innovation projects should be more radical, says report

The Railway Industry Association is calling for the sector to be more radical and overcome barriers to innovation. In a report published this morning, RIA says further collaboration to help businesses get new ideas to the market more rapidly, and a culture of innovation, will be key under Great British Railways to make the industry more cost-efficient, sustainable and accessible to passengers. This paper comes after RIA published a survey of industry professionals in December last year, which found that while there is support for R&D procurement processes remain the biggest barrier to innovation.