Cross City Line (South)

Cross City Line (South)
Description	The Cross City Line between Birmingham New Street, Redditch and Bromsgrove
Country	United Kingdom
Time period	2023
Train Operating Company	West Midlands Railway, CrossCountry
Simulation difficulty
Author	Oxalin
Repository	Cross City Line (South)
Website	Cross City Line (South)
Rolling Stock	Class 170 Class 220 Class 221 Class 323
Route map Birmingham New Street Camp Hill Line Bath Row, Granville Street & Canal Tunnels Five Ways Church Road Tunnel University Selly Oak Viaduct Selly Oak Bournville Limit of Electrification Pershore Road Tunnel Limit of Electrification Kings Norton Kings Norton Loop Kings Norton Yard Northfield Longbridge Longbridge Reversing Siding Barnt Green Lickey Summit Down Loop Alvechurch Lickey Summit Holding Siding Redditch Lickey Summit Lickey Incline Brosmgrove Bromsgrove South Siding Limit of Electrification Bromsgrove Down Loop Droitwich Spa Cross Country Route

The Cross City Line is a commuter rail line through Birmingham, operated by West Midlands Railway using class 323 Electric Multiple Units.

The service began in 1978, as a project of the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive. It used existing railway lines, and combined them with a through service at a far higher frequency than had previously operated. Services extended to Redditch in 1980, and Litchfield Trent Valley in 1988. In the early 1990s, the route was electrified, although this was done as cheaply as possible and so the bare minimum was actually electrified. In 2018 the electrification was extended to Bromsgrove, thus adding a second southern terminus to the line.

The southern section of the Cross City Line also forms part of the Cross Country Route between Bristol and Leeds - used by three Cross Country services an hour.

Timetable

A timetable for a weekday in September 2023 is included, with all passenger and ECS moves simulated. Freight has been omitted for ease of operation.

The following services operate:

Cross City Line (South) Services
Train Operating Company	Origin	Destination	Frequency (tph)
West Midlands Railway	Four Oaks	Redditch	2
	Lichfield City	Bromsgrove	2
	Birmingham New Street	Hereford	1
CrossCountry	Nottingham	Cardiff Central	1
	Edinburgh	Plymouth	1
	Manchester Piccadilly	Bristol Temple Meads	1

Electrification

Although it isn't possible to accurately simulate, as electrification was performed "on the cheap", for full realism the following should be considered:

• North of Kings Norton, only the line via Selly Oak is electrified - the Camp Hill Line can only be used by diesel services.
• Between Kings Norton and Longbridge, only the slow lines (outside) are electrified - electric trains cannot use the fast lines.
• South of Longbridge, only the fast lines (inside) are electrified - electric trains cannot use the loops.
• Electrification ends just south of Bromsgrove station - electric trains must terminate here.

Operational Tips

• Be careful not to set routes too early - trains can travel long distances in relatively short times.
• Some trains (particularly express services) can arrive early at Kings Norton - don't be afraid to hold them at a red signal to keep the correct order of trains through Selly Oak.
• At Kings Norton, southbound stopping services should be routed across to the far platform - the centre platforms are out of use.
• At Longbridge, hold the signal for southbound stopping services at red until the train has come to a stop. Due to a limitation with the program, if the signal is green the train will try to continue to the middle of the platform, but if the route is set across to the fast line (in line with the electrification restrictions above), the train will end up missing the stop entirely!
• At Bromsgrove, southbound through services use platform 4 (bottom), terminating services typically use platform 3, and northbound through services use platform 2. Platform 1 is sometimes used by terminating services when southbound freight is in platform 3, but as there is no freight in the included timetable all terminating trains should be able to use platform 3.
• Watch out for trains scheduled to use the Camp Hill Line! These aren't very frequent or regular, but several exist throughout the day.