Cross City Line: Lichfield Trent Valley to close for six months for platform refurbishment

Passengers and local residents are being invited to find out more about vital Lichfield Trent Valley station upgrades starting this summer.

Platform 3 will be replaced later this year in a £5.8m investment to keep the station safe for passengers on both the Cross City line to Birmingham and the West Coast main line.

The planned work follows a short closure of the damaged platform 3 last year, when engineers carried out a temporary fix before planning the full repair.

The essential work has now been scheduled to coincide with an already-planned closure of the West Coast main line* in July 2023, when engineers will remove the existing platform 3 which is the last station stop on the Cross City line.

The new platform will be installed during the next planned closure of the West Coast main line at Christmas 2023. From July 2023 until January 2024, services between Birmingham and Lichfield will terminate at Lichfield City and a rail replacement shuttle will be in place between Lichfield City and Lichfield Trent Valley.

Step-free access will be maintained between platforms 1 and 2 at Lichfield Trent Valley thanks to a purpose-built temporary footbridge, which will be fully accessible for passengers using the existing staircases and lifts. West Coast main line services will continue to call at platforms 1 and 2 as usual during the six-month project.

Burton Old Road car park will be closed to the public while the first stage of work takes place between Saturday 8 July and Saturday 22 July. No road closures are planned as part of the work.

Network Rail and West Midlands Railway are inviting residents and businesses to find out more about how the work could impact them between 2:30pm and 6:30pm on Tuesday 16 May at Lichfield Trent Valley station platform 1 waiting room (Station Approach, Lichfield, Staffordshire, off Burton Road, WS13 6HE).

Cathleen Meehan, scheme project manager for Network Rail, said: “Replacing platform 3 at Lichfield Trent Valley is a complex engineering project and I’d like to thank residents and businesses for their patience in advance of this major work.

“The £5.8m project will mean some changes for passengers which is why we’re holding an information event at the station so people can find out more. I’d urge anyone to come along and meet the project team and West Midlands Railway so we can explain in person how this important work is making the railway in Lichfield better for the future.”

Jonny Wiseman, customer experience director at West Midlands Railway said: “The safety of our passengers and colleagues is our number one priority and I am pleased Network Rail is carrying out these essential structural improvements to platform 3 at Lichfield Trent Valley.

“I appreciate the lengthy closure of platform 3 will be inconvenient for our customers and I would like to thank our Cross City Line passengers for their patience and understanding while this work is completed.

“A full rail replacement shuttle will be in operation between Lichfield City and Lichfield Trent Valley throughout the work and thanks to the installation of a temporary footbridge, platforms 1 and 2 will remain accessible as usual.”

Passengers travelling between London Euston, the West Midlands, the North West and Scotland are being advised to check before they travel ahead of multi-million pound railway upgrades over the early May bank holiday.

Network Rail is investing £7.7m to improve future journeys on the West Coast main line between London and Crewe between Saturday 29 April and Monday 1 May.

Notes to Editors

*To save time and money on the essential upgrade, work will take place during an already-planned closure of the West Coast main line to avoid spending an additional £1.5million daily in compensation to train operators who are unable to run services on the line.