Sutton Park line

[gg1]

One of the most commonly suggested line re-openings is the Sutton Park line, but where I think it falls down is at the eastern end where there are generally 3 suggestions, Water Orton/Coleshill which both have a limited potential market and connection opportunities, or New Street, which would be a very indirect route for most potential stations on the line.

My idea is to build a new line from Water Orton to Berkswell, running parallel to HS2 with it's own platforms at B'ham Interchange, then running a half hourly service from Wolverhampton>Walsall>Coventry.

The benefits are:

New local rail travel options between settlements/suburbs on the route itself
Coventry to HS2 - if XC is restructured post HS2, there's a very real chance Coventry could lose it's direct services to the north. This would compensate to a greater degree than a slower, less attractive connection between International and Interchange.
Much quicker journeys between Sutton Coldfield/Walsall (plus the chase line settlements) to both HS2 and classic lines to points south of Coventry than by changing at New Street/Curzon Street.
Freight services which currently traverse the Stetchford-Aston line could be re-routed along this route freeing up a little capacity between New Street and International.

What are peoples thoughts?

 

[The Planner]

Do a search on the "Whitacre Link" in Google, yours is a similar proposal. I think there was a thread on it here a few years back. Freight only has a standard hourly path on the Cov corridor anyway so there isn't a lot to be had there. You are also trying to throw more traffic over the Water Orton junctions. Not sure if the Chase Line stations would benefit as it would require a change at Walsall when you be well on the way to New St in the connectional time. Coventry won't lose its XC connections to the north, the plan is to increase them by routing the Reading Newcastle that way.

 

[AForumUser]

One of the most commonly suggested line re-openings is the Sutton Park line, but where I think it falls down is at the eastern end where there are generally 3 suggestions, Water Orton/Coleshill which both have a limited potential market and connection opportunities, or New Street, which would be a very indirect route for most potential stations on the line.

My idea is to build a new line from Water Orton to Berkswell, running parallel to HS2 with it's own platforms at B'ham Interchange, then running a half hourly service from Wolverhampton>Walsall>Coventry.

The benefits are:

New local rail travel options between settlements/suburbs on the route itself
Coventry to HS2 - if XC is restructured post HS2, there's a very real chance Coventry could lose it's direct services to the north. This would compensate to a greater degree than a slower, less attractive connection between International and Interchange.
Much quicker journeys between Sutton Coldfield/Walsall (plus the chase line settlements) to both HS2 and classic lines to points south of Coventry than by changing at New Street/Curzon Street.
Freight services which currently traverse the Stetchford-Aston line could be re-routed along this route freeing up a little capacity between New Street and International.

What are peoples thoughts?

Prehaps, instead of building a new line, you could run Wolverhampton to Leicester via Walsall, Sutton and Nuneaton as a way to connect the north of the conurbation to the East Midlands without going through New Street with its capacity constraints. Another option would be to head too Coventry after Nuneaton.