Chase Line

The Chase Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs from its southern terminus, Birmingham New Street, to Walsall, and then Rugeley in Staffordshire. The name of the line refers to Cannock Chase which it runs through at its northern end.

Overview
The line from Birmingham to Walsall (sometimes referred to as the Walsall Line) has two alternative routes, both electrified at 25 kV AC overhead. One leaves New Street to the east, following the Cross-City Line as far as Aston, where it diverges to the west. The other leaves to the west, and travels via Soho. Beyond Walsall, the line is not electrified, and continues north to Hednesford and Rugeley. This section was freight-only, and reopened to passenger trains in stages between 1989 and 1998.

Places served on the route are listed below. For information on the stations, please refer to the list in the route map.

Chase Line (Walsall-Rugeley)
 * Rugeley
 * Hednesford
 * Cannock
 * Great Wyrley (closed in 1964)
 * Landywood
 * Bloxwich
 * Walsall

Walsall Line (Birmingham-Walsall)
 * Walsall
 * Bescot (for Bescot Stadium, the home of Walsall FC)
 * Stone Cross (near Tame Bridge Parkway station)
 * Hamstead
 * Perry Barr
 * Witton
 * Aston
 * Duddeston
 * Birmingham

Passenger trains are operated by London Midland on behalf of Centro.

Services
Monday to Saturday daytime there are four trains per hour from Birmingham New Street to Walsall. Two per hour call at all stations, the other two per hour call at Tame Bridge Parkway and Walsall, continuing to Rugeley Trent Valley with one train calling at all stations and the other skipping certain stations between Walsall and Rugeley. Monday to Saturday evenings and all day Sunday there are two trains per hour (one stopping and one semi-fast) between Walsall and Birmingham and an hourly service to Rugeley Trent Valley.

Class 323 Electric Multiple Units are used for services on the electrified section between Birmingham and Walsall. The services which continue beyond Walsall on the non-electrified stretch to Rugeley use Class 170 Diesel Multiple Units.

From December 2010 the Rugeley service was cut from half-hourly to hourly on weekdays due to lack of funding, but a Walsall to Birmingham New Street fast stopping only at Tame Bridge Parkway was retained, which used to start from Rugeley Trent Valley.

History
The line via Aston, Perry Barr and Bescot is the former Grand Junction Railway, opened in 1837.

The section between Walsall and Cannock was constructed by the South Staffordshire Railway.

The section between Cannock and Rugeley was constructed by the Cannock Mineral Railway.

Reopening
The line between Walsall and Rugeley Trent Valley closed to passengers in 1965, remaining open to freight. It reopened in stages, as follows:


 * 10 April 1989 &mdash; Walsall to Hednesford
 * 2 June 1997 &mdash; Hednesford to Rugeley Town
 * 25 May 1998 &mdash; Rugeley Town to Stafford
 * 12 December 2008 &mdash; Chase Line trains are withdrawn from the Stafford - Rugeley Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line

Electrification
The lines between New Street and Walsall were electrified in 1966 as an offshoot of the West Coast Main Line electrification.

On 16 July 2012, the coalition government announced the overhead electrification of the Chase Line between Rugeley Trent Valley and Walsall, with work scheduled to take place from 2014, with an estimated completion date of December 2017. It is estimated to cost around £36m, as part of a £9.4bn package of investment in the railways in England and Wales, including £4.2bn of new schemes, unveiled by the government. The electrification was first discussed in the early 1960s, but funding was secured by Aidan Burley, MP for Cannock Chase in February 2013 after his Adjournment Debate on 14 June 2012. Electrification work is due to start in late 2013.

The electrification of the line will be accompanied by a speed increase from the current 45mph to 75mph. Consultation in still in progress over a scheme to close Bloxwich level crossing to motorised traffic, enabling the current 20mph speed limit to be lifted. It will also enable the line to transport W10 freight containers. Preliminary work to re-signal the route ahead of electrification is due to be completed in August 2013, with the closure of the three remaining manual signal boxes at Bloxwich, Hednesford & Brereton Sidings and the panel boxes at Walsall & Bescot. Control of the area will then pass to the West Midlands SCC at Saltley.

For residents of the area, the changes will mean reduced journey times and reduced overcrowding to Birmingham (up to 15 minutes shorter, 4tph) and the surrounding areas, as well as the introduction of new services to Birmingham International (2tph), Coventry (2tph), Liverpool Lime Street and even the possibility of a direct service to London Euston. The electrification itself will create over 1300 jobs in the area and generate a further £113 million of gross value added (GVA) benefit per annum, as well as reducing the operating costs of the line.