OREANDA-NEWS. Passengers will benefit from a range of improved facilities which includes a staffed ticket office, passenger waiting room, toilets and 350 onsite car parking spaces. An external concourse will link passengers to the car parking areas along with new bus stops, a taxi rank, pedestrian footpaths and a cycle store.

In addition, the new station facilities and better integration with local bus services make it easier for passengers to use the train to travel between Bromsgrove and Birmingham and Worcester. It will also reduce congestion and carbon emissions and make it easier to access the town, making the local area more attractive for businesses and encourage job creation in the Bromsgrove area.

The station is fully accessible to all users and has the capacity to handle 800,000 passengers per year. In addition, the longer platforms will allow additional rail services to stop at Bromsgrove in the future.

Further improvements are scheduled as Network Rail’s electrification and resignalling programme continues. Once complete, there will be four trains per hour between Bromsgrove and Birmingham.

The new railway station has been developed by Worcestershire County Council, the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and Network Rail, with construction contractor Buckingham Group. It has cost ?24m to design and build.

Councillor Ken Pollock, Worcestershire County Council's cabinet member with responsibility for economy, skills and infrastructure, said: "Improving transport links in our county is a key priority. The substantial investment in this important improvement project, as well as other transport programmes across Worcestershire, is a reflection of our commitment to stimulating and securing future economic growth. It also ensures Worcestershire, which boasts the fourth fastest growing economy in the country, is very much 'open for business'."

Councillor Roger Lawrence of the WMCA, said: “I am delighted that the new Bromsgrove station is now open. It is a superb new facility for the town that provides so much more than passengers have been used to, enabling increased frequency of trains to and from Bromsgrove and better access to rail services across the region.”

Martin Ball, area director for Network Rail, said: “The new Bromsgrove station provides a significant boost to passengers and the wider area, providing better facilities and a much-improved first impression of the town. We have worked closely with Centro and Worcestershire County Council to deliver the station, which supports our national Railway Upgrade Plan to provide a better railway for passengers.

"This is the first of a series of upgrades through Bromsgrove. A more reliable signalling system is being installed and the line between Bromsgrove and Barnt Green will be electrified which will provide passengers with better, more frequent and reliable services.”

London Midland's head of regional services, Steve Fisher, said: “The new station is all about making travel simpler for our passengers. It brings a range of extra benefits, including a staffed ticket office, additional parking and easier connections to local bus services. With further investment in signalling and electrification, passengers can also look forward to four trains per hour between Bromsgrove and Birmingham.”

The newly-formed WMCA replaces Centro, the delivery arm of the former West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority (ITA), which jointly funded the new station in partnership with Worcestershire County Council, to improve access to the wider West Midlands transport network.