Camp Hill Line

The Camp Hill line is a railway line in Birmingham which lies between Kings Norton on the Cross-City Line and Birmingham New Street via Grand Junction on the main lines from and .

Local passenger services on the line were ended in the 1940s, and the intermediate stations on the line were closed; since then it has been used by freight trains and some longer distance passenger trains only. There are currently plans to restore local services to the line via new chords connecting the line to Birmingham Moor Street.

History

The Camp Hill Line originated as part of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) which was opened from Gloucester to a temporary terminus at in December 1840, in August the following year the line was extended into Curzon Street the then main station in Birmingham; with the original Camp Hill terminus becoming a goods station, which it remained until 1966. The terminus later switched from Curzon Street to Birmingham New Street station in 1854. The B&GR itself was taken over by the Midland Railway in 1845.

In 1861 a junction was constructed at Bordesley, creating a north to south-east connection from the Camp Hill Line to the Great Western Railway's main line to Oxford and London (now known as the Chiltern Main Line) which remains in use, and allows trains from Oxford and beyond to run into Birmingham New Street via the Camp Hill Line.

In 1864 a 'direct' line was opened between St Andrews and Landor Street Junctions at the north end of the Camp Hill Line, connecting it to the Midland Railway's line to . From this date Midland expresses from Derby to Bristol by-passed New Street, and ran via this route to Camp Hill station, where portions of the train bound for Birmingham New Street would be detached or attached from the train. As both the Midland Railway lines from Derby and Bristol approached New Street from the east, this arrangement avoided the need for them to reverse at New Street and thus save time. This arrangement was unsatisfactory, but it persisted until 1885 when the Midland Railway extended its Birmingham West Suburban Railway (BWSR) into New Street from the west, allowing Derby to Bristol trains to run directly through New Street without reversing and rejoin the B&GR route at Kings Norton railway station.

In 1892, the Lifford Curve opened, creating a north-facing connection between the Camp Hill Line and the Birmingham West Suburban Railway, allowing a circular service to operate from New Street via the Camp Hill Line and returning via the BWSR (or vice versa). Local passenger services and all six passenger stations along the Camp Hill line were closed as a wartime rationalisation of the network in 1941. It was confirmed as permanent in 1946. After they never reopened, the buildings were demolished:

* Camp Hill
* Brighton Road
* Moseley
* Kings Heath
* Hazelwell
* Lifford

Since then the line has been used by freight trains and some longer distance passenger trains only.

Future plans

The reinstatement of local rail services to the former Camp Hill Line has been a long term aspiration of the city, and during 2007, Birmingham City Council announced that they were looking into the possibility of reopening the line between Kings Norton and Birmingham Moor Street via the construction of a railway viaduct from Sparkbrook to Bordesley, where trains would be taken into the "old" Birmingham Moor Street station. In October 2007, a 1,500-name petition was handed in to the council asking for the line to be re-opened. In 2013 the proposal was shelved indefinitely.

The 2007 proposed station sites were Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell.

In 2016, the newly created West Midlands Combined Authority revived the plans to restore local passenger services to the line, and declared it one of their priority transport schemes to be delivered by 2025.

In 2017, the newly elected Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street pledged to get work started on restoring services to the line by 2020. And officials were said to be investigating the business case for a fourth station at Balsall Heath (previously called Brighton Road). This would mean and Camp Hill would be the only stations not to be reopened.

In August 2017, West Midlands Trains announced plans as part of their franchise deal that the line would reopen by December 2019 as part of a £1 billion investment in the West Midlands. This included a new station at Moseley.

In February 2018, Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, said that the viaduct would not be needed, as Hereford to Birmingham New Street trains, currently routed via University Station, could be diverted along the Camp Hill Line to serve the three new stations (and which would also facilitate through train operation toward Shrewsbury), meaning that extra capacity at Birmingham New Street would not be required.

In July 2018, the Midlands Rail Hub was unveiled which included the reopening of Moseley, Kings Heath and Hazelwell along with 2 new chords (the Bordesley Chords), one to connect Birmingham Moor Street with the line to Kings Norton and the other with the line to Water Orton.

In September 2018, the designs of the new stations were revealed as , and were planned for reopening by 2021 with a frequency of two trains per hour. In March 2021 it was announced that funding had been found for the project, with an opening date expected in 2023. In June 2022, West Midlands Rail Executive announced that following on from a public consultation, the three stations would be named Moseley Village, Kings Heath and Pineapple Road.

This line was identified by Campaign for Better Transport as a priority 1 candidate for reopening.

References

Bibliography

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External links

*Birmingham City Counci
Camp Hill Railway Line Study Public Report
July 2007
*Birmingham City Counci
Detailed map of the proposed railway chord linking the Camp Hill line into Moor Street Station

{{Proposed rail infrastructure projects in the United Kingdom

Rail transport in Birmingham, West Midlands
Railway lines opened in 1840
1840 establishments in England
Railway lines closed in 1941
1941 disestablishments in England