The Birmingham West Suburban Railway was a suburban railway built by the Midland Railway company. Opened in stages between 1876 and 1885, it allowed both the opening of development of central southwest suburban Birmingham south into Worcestershire and the by-passing of railway traffic via the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway into central Birmingham. Today, it forms a major section of the Cross-City Line, running from Lichfield to Redditch. It also forms an important part of the Cross Country Route.
History
Origins
As early as 1840, the Worcester and Birmingham Canal attempted to stem the decline in its income, by promoting a scheme to build a railway alongside its canal from the existing Birmingham and Gloucester Railway at into central Birmingham, with a branch to Harborne. The company intended that the railway would pay rent to the canal company for use of their land, thus providing an extra income, but it was unable to raise the funds for the scheme and it was dropped.
A group of local businessmen revived the scheme in 1870, noticing the potential of a railway to spur suburban development of the under developed areas of south Birmingham and the villages of northern Worcestershire. They proposed that the line would run alongside the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, and pay an annual rent to the canal company for the use of their land, and that the line would be worked by the Midland Railway. The branch to Harborne was dropped from the revived scheme. In this form the scheme succeeded and an Act authorising it was passed by Parliament in 1871.
In the original plans, the line would have crossed over the Worcester and Birmingham Canal on a viaduct from the south to reach its intended Birmingham terminus at Suffolk Street station at Albion Wharf. Surviving plans for this station show it would have been built at the end of the viaduct 36 feet (11 metres) above street level; passengers would have reached the station by means of either a steep ramp or a staircase. As the promoters were unable to raise the funds to build the viaduct, the terminus was cut back to Granville Street station on the southern side of the canal, further away from the centre of Birmingham. The later Central Goods station was at roughly the location of the proposed Suffolk Street terminus, but was reached by a tunnel under the canal. The line was opened on 3 April 1876. The Midland Railway had obtained powers to take the company over, and these were exercised as soon as the line was opened.
Original route
As originally built, the BWSR was a single track line with one passing loop at station. The line originally took a winding route which closely followed the contours of the canal. It exited from Granville Street, then proceeded through Church Road, Somerset Road and Selly Oak, before reaching what was originally called Stirchley Street. The original line then followed the route of the canal east under the Pershore Road to what was effectively a joint dual-level station at Lifford. It then passed under the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway viaduct and turned sharp right (westwards), steeply climbing to join with the Birmingham and Gloucester to the east of Kings Norton railway station. Due to the engineering involved in this part of the line, it opened two months after the rest of the line in April 1876, under full operational control of soon to be owner, the Midland Railway.
Upgrade
Although originally conceived as a local suburban line, the Midland Railway soon realised the potential of the BWSR to create a new through route which would enter station from the west, and therefore allow their trains from Derby to Bristol to pass directly through New Street, instead of having to reverse direction to continue their journey via the original Birmingham and Gloucester route which entered Birmingham from the east. They obtained powers in 1881 to upgrade the line by doubling the track throughout, straightening out the winding route, and building a new connection at the northern end to New Street station.