Passengers urged to plan ahead for three-day Cross City line closure during HS2 viaduct work

The Cross City line between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield Trent Valley will close for three days in May while a HS2 viaduct is installed near the new Curzon Street station.

The closure will mean no trains will run between Lichfield and Birmingham on the north side of the Cross City line between Friday 29 until Sunday 31 May. The line will reopen as normal on Monday 1 June.

Trains will continue to run normally between Birmingham New Street and Redditch/Bromsgrove on the southern section of the Cross City line.

To enable the safe completion of the complex bridge installation, train services between Birmingham and Tame Bridge Parkway will also be impacted.

A rail replacement bus service will be in use between Birmingham New Street and Lichfield Trent Valley, and between Birmingham New Street and Tame Bridge Parkway. Services to Rugeley Trent Valley will also be diverted and take slightly longer.

During the closure, HS2 engineers will install a new 150-metre-long viaduct, which in future, will carry HS2 trains towards Curzon Street over the existing Victorian brick viaduct that connects the railway between Duddeston and Birmingham New Street.

Following on from the success of similar viaduct installations, HS2 has worked closely with Network Rail to enable a ‘fully restrained’ process, which will allow engineers to safely continue sliding the remainder of the deck over the railway after it reopens to trains. This innovative and controlled process will help to minimise disruption to passengers.

Patrick Cawley, director for On Network Works at Network Rail and HS2, said: “We’re asking passengers to plan ahead of a three-day closure on the Cross City line between Birmingham and Lichfield, which is needed to safely install a new HS2 viaduct deck over the existing railway.

“Using an innovative engineering solution, we’ve worked to minimise the impact of this work on rail passengers as much as possible but urge those planning to travel on the affected dates to check www.nationalrail.co.uk for information about changes to journeys."

Jonny Wiseman, customer experience director for West Midlands Railway, said: “We want to thank passengers for their patience while this major piece of engineering work is carried out and the northern section of the Cross City Line is closed. Rail replacement buses will be running during the closure, and passengers are encouraged to check their travel before setting out.”

Passengers can plan their journey and check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk and with West Midlands Railway at www.wmr.uk.