TheOstrich wrote:
I think the problem with the Rugeley train service north of Walsall is that Staffordshire and the local Councils withdrew a lot of funding for it, hence the reduction in service, which I reckon was pretty short-sighted of them, and I hope once electrification is completed, you'll get your basic 30 minute service restored. But I'm not sure of the time-scale for your electrification - I guess they'll aim to finish working on the section from Barnt Green down to Bromsgrove first (Cross City line extension), and that isn't due for completion until Summer 2016 .....
Network Rail have been raising the height of railway bridges, the one in Hednesford caused chaos for several months and work over ran on that. They've now moved on to start work on a bridge in Bloxwich but that's been put on hold because although they were aware of mine workings in the area they weren't aware of the full extent of them so nothing more can be done until further investigations have been carried out.
London Midland must be haemorrhaging money on the Chase Line alone though. Many stations are unmanned and, quite often, so are the ticket barriers at New St and Walsall stations and if a train's busy, which they frequently are with the hourly service, the conductor goes into hiding and doesn't bother selling tickets on the train. Joe and I got a London Midland back from London to Stafford last Saturday. Euston has no ticket barriers (neither does Stafford) and the train was packed with the aisles full of standing passengers so we travelled for over two hours back home without having our tickets checked.
