Cross-City Line

Cross-City Line
Class 323 Cross City train arrives at Birmingham New Street.
Overview
Type	Heavy rail, Suburban rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	West Midlands
Termini	Lichfield Trent Valley Redditch
Stations	24
Operation
Opened	1978
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	London Midland
Rolling stock	Class 323
Technical
Line length	32 miles (51 km)
Number of tracks	One – Two
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV AC OHLE

The Cross-City Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for 32 miles (51 km) from Redditch, Worcestershire, its southern terminus, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via Birmingham New Street, connecting the suburbs of Birmingham in between. Services are operated by London Midland.

Cross-City Line services began in 1978, as a project of the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) to improve local rail services. It made use of pre-existing railways lines, which previously did not have any through services. Services were extended to Redditch in 1980, and to Lichfield Trent Valley in 1988. The route was electrified in 1993. Currently work is under way to extend services to Bromsgrove, which will be added as a second southern terminus.

What is now the Cross-City Line was not built as a single route; it is a combination of lines opened by different companies at different times, between 1837 and 1885.

On the northern half of the route (Birmingham-Lichfield):

On the southern half of the route (Birmingham-Redditch):

These lines from Birmingham to Barnt Green and Redditch were operated by the Midland Railway and the line to Lichfield was operated by the London and North Western Railway, so there were no through services. This continued despite the Grouping of the LNW and Midland Railways to form the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1921, and subsequent nationalisation to form British Railways.