It's interesting when you look at the settings for Willenhall and Darlaston - Willenhall being very conveniently located for the town centre and surrounding residential areas - Darlaston being on the edge of an out-of-town retail and industrial zone but with a big car park that is likely to attract people from further afield. The main thing I would change would be that each service needs to be every 30 minutes, giving a ~15-minute frequency on the combined section to Wolverhampton - an hourly train on a local service in an urban area is just not good enough.
Could do but it's all dependent on terminating capacity at either end (Walsall and Wolverhampton). I think the Sutton Park Line and Bordseley Curves could present opportunities to increase the frequency of the line further but who knows!
Can't help thinking that one train an hour isn't enough. Especially if they're aiming at commuters and people in education, that means their market is people who need to arrive at a specific time. An hourly service means that, on average, people will have to arrive half an hour early and, on average, they'll have to wait half an hour for their train home. That's an hour a day sitting around waiting -- so is the train really saving you time? Add to that the fact that, unless you're going town-centre-to-town-centre, you're going to need to get to the station, too. And, since missing your train is going to make you really late for work or miss your class, you'd better aim to get to the station plenty of time before the train leaves. So, instead of being "a fifteen minute rail journey", it's fifteen minutes on the bus to get into Walsall, fifteen minutes sitting around at the railway station because you had to make sure you wouldn't miss the train, fifteen minutes on the train to Wolverhampton and half an hour sitting around in Wolverhampton because the train got you there too early. Wow, that 75-minute, 8-mile commute sounds so appealing!
Precisely. This is exactly the problem that urban planners need to contend with when looking to reopen stations along a railway - can it attract custom in the best way possible?
A issue which keeps cropping up these days is a shortage of rolling stock required to improve service frequencies. Hopefully, if several proposals to rebuild suitable existing designs prove practical, thereby extending their economic lives by a decade or two, we could be on a road to recovery .... that is providing DfT doesn't see such programs as an 'instead of' rather than 'as well as'.
Work began on this and the Camp Hill lines few years ago. Both are progressing extremely slowly. Since the West Midlands Mayor changed, it seems to be on hold. I don’t think there is any chance of trains going from Aldridge to Birmingham via Castle. Bromwich in the near future. The south east lines out of New Street are at capacity. The only way for it to work is to send the trains into Moor Street by a New Chord at Bordesley. There is a proposal for that.
Indeed they have - as evidenced by the construction in the video! I did discuss the proposal in my Camp Hill Line video re Bordesley Chords, and yes you could very well be right on a diversion to Moor Street rather than going into New St.
Good video, thanks,. May I suggest you leave the maps on the screen for a few seconds longer when describing the routes and history, as, for non-locals, it was a 'now you see it, now you don't' experience! Edit: The last 5 minutes definitely needed maps on the screen when discussing possible routes and stations rather than just shots of buses and trains.
Most enjoyable and informative. Interesting that electrification was justified as it was considered a diversionary route, when the prevalent attitude during the Marples/Beeching era emphasised 'duplication'. How many vital lines did we lose to *that* dogmatic oversimplification?
Not 24 hours ago I was wondering why no trains used this line to connect two pretty major places, leaving the 1 hour 9 minute train via New Street as the only direct link. Funnily enough it is actually faster to go the other way and change at Stafford and come back down via Rugely. I wonder how often a journey is faster changing trains than taking a direct one... Anyway it's nice to see I'm not alone in thinking running passenger services along this line would be beneficial haha
I live in Walsall & looking forward to using the new service as it could make going to places like Shrewsbury & Manchester easier then go to Rugeley via Stafford Crewe to Manchester & change at Tame Bridge for Shrewsbury. I would like to see a new station between Aldridge or Bloxwich & Walsall. Ether Ryecroft on Rutland Street or Forest Line on the existing chase line. The other site would be Mill Lane & the reintroduction of the South Staffordshire line to Lichfield. Having 2 platforms on the Sutton Park line & 2 for the South Staffordshire line. The areas of Rushall, Coalpool, Ryecroft & Harden would benefit from have a new station. Give new housing estates recently being built in these areas . having a new service from Aldridge to Wolverhampton via Mill Line, Walsall Darlaston & Willinhall more profitable & could serve 4 to 6 trains per hour at Mill line from Wolverhampton to Lichfield via Willenhall, Darlaston, Walsall, Mill Lane, Pelsall & Brownhills.
Not sure where the 70,000 population figure comes from. Walsall borough has over 250,000. My doubt about this is that the 15 minute station-to-station, especially with so limited a service, is largely irrelevant for most people in Walsall or Wolverhampton, who face a bus ride to the station and a median wait of half an hour.
My bad! 😂 I’ve been editing this across the span of about 2/3 weeks here and there, so must not have picked up on it during the edit or when I was making this video in the first place. Thanks for informing me of this 😅
BTW sorry if my pronunciation of “Darlaston” sounds a bit flat. A lot of this was recorded in the aftermath of a cold 😅
Great video - I really like your detail on local industries and bus routes.
Thank you very much!
The maps too. With bus routes!
It's interesting when you look at the settings for Willenhall and Darlaston - Willenhall being very conveniently located for the town centre and surrounding residential areas - Darlaston being on the edge of an out-of-town retail and industrial zone but with a big car park that is likely to attract people from further afield. The main thing I would change would be that each service needs to be every 30 minutes, giving a ~15-minute frequency on the combined section to Wolverhampton - an hourly train on a local service in an urban area is just not good enough.
Could do but it's all dependent on terminating capacity at either end (Walsall and Wolverhampton). I think the Sutton Park Line and Bordseley Curves could present opportunities to increase the frequency of the line further but who knows!
Nice vid, very good detail, look forward to seeing them open
Thanks ☺️
Very well researched and presented!!
Thanks so much!
Can't help thinking that one train an hour isn't enough. Especially if they're aiming at commuters and people in education, that means their market is people who need to arrive at a specific time. An hourly service means that, on average, people will have to arrive half an hour early and, on average, they'll have to wait half an hour for their train home. That's an hour a day sitting around waiting -- so is the train really saving you time? Add to that the fact that, unless you're going town-centre-to-town-centre, you're going to need to get to the station, too. And, since missing your train is going to make you really late for work or miss your class, you'd better aim to get to the station plenty of time before the train leaves.
So, instead of being "a fifteen minute rail journey", it's fifteen minutes on the bus to get into Walsall, fifteen minutes sitting around at the railway station because you had to make sure you wouldn't miss the train, fifteen minutes on the train to Wolverhampton and half an hour sitting around in Wolverhampton because the train got you there too early. Wow, that 75-minute, 8-mile commute sounds so appealing!
Precisely. This is exactly the problem that urban planners need to contend with when looking to reopen stations along a railway - can it attract custom in the best way possible?
A issue which keeps cropping up these days is a shortage of rolling stock required to improve service frequencies.
Hopefully, if several proposals to rebuild suitable existing designs prove practical, thereby extending their economic lives by a decade or two, we could be on a road to recovery .... that is providing DfT doesn't see such programs as an 'instead of' rather than 'as well as'.
Work began on this and the Camp Hill lines few years ago. Both are progressing extremely slowly. Since the West Midlands Mayor changed, it seems to be on hold. I don’t think there is any chance of trains going from Aldridge to Birmingham via Castle. Bromwich in the near future. The south east lines out of New Street are at capacity. The only way for it to work is to send the trains into Moor Street by a New Chord at Bordesley. There is a proposal for that.
Indeed they have - as evidenced by the construction in the video! I did discuss the proposal in my Camp Hill Line video re Bordesley Chords, and yes you could very well be right on a diversion to Moor Street rather than going into New St.
Good video, thanks,. May I suggest you leave the maps on the screen for a few seconds longer when describing the routes and history, as, for non-locals, it was a 'now you see it, now you don't' experience! Edit: The last 5 minutes definitely needed maps on the screen when discussing possible routes and stations rather than just shots of buses and trains.
Of course. Thanks for your feedback!
Most enjoyable and informative. Interesting that electrification was justified as it was considered a diversionary route, when the prevalent attitude during the Marples/Beeching era emphasised 'duplication'. How many vital lines did we lose to *that* dogmatic oversimplification?
Thanks ever so much! In the context of Walsall to Wolverhampton - we did lose Walsall to Lichfield, a line which I do hope to cover in another video.
Not 24 hours ago I was wondering why no trains used this line to connect two pretty major places, leaving the 1 hour 9 minute train via New Street as the only direct link. Funnily enough it is actually faster to go the other way and change at Stafford and come back down via Rugely. I wonder how often a journey is faster changing trains than taking a direct one...
Anyway it's nice to see I'm not alone in thinking running passenger services along this line would be beneficial haha
I live in Walsall & looking forward to using the new service as it could make going to places like Shrewsbury & Manchester easier then go to Rugeley via Stafford Crewe to Manchester & change at Tame Bridge for Shrewsbury.
I would like to see a new station between Aldridge or Bloxwich & Walsall. Ether Ryecroft on Rutland Street or Forest Line on the existing chase line.
The other site would be Mill Lane & the reintroduction of the South Staffordshire line to Lichfield. Having 2 platforms on the Sutton Park line & 2 for the South Staffordshire line. The areas of Rushall, Coalpool, Ryecroft & Harden would benefit from have a new station. Give new housing estates recently being built in these areas . having a new service from Aldridge to Wolverhampton via Mill Line, Walsall Darlaston & Willinhall more profitable & could serve 4 to 6 trains per hour at Mill line from Wolverhampton to Lichfield via Willenhall, Darlaston, Walsall, Mill Lane, Pelsall & Brownhills.
Notice how many of the bus number signs aren't working properly 😂🤦♂️
Which ones? The ones on buses?
@somenorthlondoner yeah they're all flickering 😂
@@joshua.910Yeah, difference in frequencies I think (camera was recording in 60fps IIRC)
@somenorthlondoner Nope, dw I'm from Birmingham. They all do that 😂
@@somenorthlondoner It was a joke, I think.
Not sure where the 70,000 population figure comes from. Walsall borough has over 250,000. My doubt about this is that the 15 minute station-to-station, especially with so limited a service, is largely irrelevant for most people in Walsall or Wolverhampton, who face a bus ride to the station and a median wait of half an hour.
~70k population of the town itself, not the wider borough which is, as you say, closer to 250k
Rouge-ly not Roogly \m/
My bad! 😂
I’ve been editing this across the span of about 2/3 weeks here and there, so must not have picked up on it during the edit or when I was making this video in the first place. Thanks for informing me of this 😅
@somenorthlondoner no great issue, certainly doesn't take away from the obviously solid research - well done \m/
Most people know what has led to the downfall of Walsall but are not allowed to voice their opinions.
Racist dogwhistle detected.