Alvechurch - services and issues

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I remember Alvechurch when there were just four round trips through there a day.   It's been twice an hour recently and now it can go up to 3 times an hour.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-29011755?

Alvechurch is on the branch to Redditch (population 84,000) ... and the two stations together are a wonderful example of a line that can regain a useable service .. and grow it.

[John R]

And not far away, Bromsgrove station is being rebuilt to permit a 3tph service (much improved on the current service). Similarly in the 70s the service was a handful of trains a day, not helped by a lack of local trains and its inconvenient location at the foot of the Lickey Incline.

[chuffed]

And there was little old me getting Alvechurch confused with Adlestrop !

Still some of the stations in Flanders and Swann's 'Slow Train' have now re-opened !

[bobm]

...a perfect excuse to re-read those wonderful lyrics.
From Flanders & Swann Online

Miller's Dale for Tideswell ...
Kirby Muxloe ...
Mow Cop and Scholar Green ...

No more will I go to Blandford Forum and Mortehoe
On the slow train from Midsomer Norton and Mumby Road.
No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat
At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street.
We won't be meeting again
On the Slow Train.

I'll travel no more from Littleton Badsey to Openshaw.
At Long Stanton I'll stand well clear of the doors no more.
No whitewashed pebbles, no Up and no Down
From Formby Four Crosses to Dunstable Town.
I won't be going again
On the Slow Train.

On the Main Line and the Goods Siding
The grass grows high
At Dog Dyke, Tumby Woodside
And Trouble House Halt.

The Sleepers sleep at Audlem and Ambergate.
No passenger waits on Chittening platform or Cheslyn Hay.
No one departs, no one arrives
From Selby to Goole, from St Erth to St Ives.
They've all passed out of our lives
On the Slow Train, on the Slow Train.

Cockermouth for Buttermere ... on the Slow Train,
Armley Moor Arram ...
Pye Hill and Somercotes ... on the Slow Train,
Windmill End.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Alvechurch night time rail work noise 'unbearable'


A new platform and footbridge have been built at Alvechurch railway station

Overnight work to improve the track on a stretch of Worcestershire railway is causing "unbearable" noise, one resident has claimed.

The line at Alvechurch, which runs between Redditch and Birmingham, was closed for eight weeks. It has reopened during daytime while scheduled work continues at night.

Nearly 3km (1.9 miles) of track has been added to the line and a new platform and footbridge built at Alvechurch station.

Kevin Baker, whose house backs on to the track, said he has high blood pressure which has been made worse by being kept awake. "It's a total lottery when it comes to getting any sleep," he said. "There is a continual disruption."

Richard Dugdale, of Network Rail, said work to tamp down the new track had to be done at night to allow the route to be in operation during the day. "While [the night time noise is] unfortunate, I am confident - when complete - the scheme will bring lots of benefits when it kicks in from December."

[John R]

Today saw the start of the 3 trains per hour service on the Redditch branch, following the construction of the dynamic loop at Alvechurch.  At the start of the 1980's it was 3 trains per day.