Birmingham Interchange

Birmingham Interchange is a planned High Speed 2 railway station in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England, expected to open in 2026.^[2]

Birmingham Interchange
Planned location
General information
Location	Bickenhill, Solihull, Metropolitan Borough of Solihull England
Grid reference	SP199839
Platforms	4 (2 island platforms)[1]
Tracks	6
History
Opening	2026 (planned)

v t e High Speed 2
Legend
As of October 2023
to Liverpool, Glasgow & Edinburgh Handsacre Junction West Coast Main Line Snow Hill lines Birmingham New Street Birmingham Curzon Street Birmingham Moor Street Birmingham International Birmingham Interchange West Coast Main Line Old Oak Common Euston pedestrian walkway to St Pancras International interchange with National Rail at all stations
Original plan, pre-2021
Northern Powerhouse Rail Manchester Piccadilly Leeds to East Coast Main Line to York & Newcastle West Coast Main Line to Liverpool, Glasgow & Edinburgh Midland Main Line Manchester Airport High Speed Classic-compatible loop Sheffield Crewe Chesterfield Classic-compatible loop East Midlands Hub Handsacre Junction to Nottingham, Derby & Leicester West Coast Main Line   Phase 1 ╲ Phase 2   boundary Snow Hill lines Birmingham New Street Birmingham Curzon Street Birmingham Moor Street Birmingham International Birmingham Interchange West Coast Main Line Old Oak Common Euston pedestrian walkway to St Pancras International interchange with National Rail at all stations

Unlike the city centre based Birmingham Curzon Street railway station, the interchange station will be a parkway, serving the east side of Birmingham and surrounding urban areas.^[3]

The station will be built on a triangular piece of land, surrounded by the M42 motorway, A446 and A45, and will be linked to the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International railway station^[4] by a people mover. The people mover will have a capacity of over 2,100 passengers per hour in each direction in the peak period.^[3]

History

The station was designed by Arup, with support from Churchman Thornhill Finch, achieving BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification, the first railway station in the world to do so, with measures to maximise daylight, LED lighting, reusing rainwater from its roof, and air source heat pumps.^[5] In June 2021, High Speed 2 invited companies to bid for a £370 million contract to build the station.^[6]

Skanska, Unity (a joint venture with Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick, with support from WSP) and Laing O’Rourke were shortlisted. Laing O’Rourke was subsequently awarded the contract in July 2022 for its detailed design and following this, its construction starting in 2023.^[7]

The station will have 4 platforms, made of two 415m long platform islands. There will also be capacity for through-running services on two centrally placed tracks, leading to a total of 6 tracks. The station structure will be formed by a steel and glulam timber frame, with repeating structural forms on a 9 by 9 grid.^[8]

Services

Current service proposals suggest five trains per hour will stop at Birmingham Interchange, in each direction. Journey time from this station to London is planned to be 38 minutes.^[3]

Transport links

A proposed 17 km (11 miles) long branch of the West Midlands Metro would terminate at this station, connecting it to the local tram network.^[9]

References

1. "Birmingham International Interchange Station - drawing number HS2-ARP-00-DR-RW-05303" (PDF).
2. "Station designs unveiled for HS2 route". BBC News. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
3. "HS2 Phase One full business case". www.gov.uk. Department for Transport. 15 April 2020. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
4. Department for Transport (11 March 2010). High Speed Rail - Command Paper (PDF). The Stationery Office. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-10-178272-2. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
5. "Arup designed HS2 Interchange Station becomes first railway station in world to achieve top sustainability certification". www.arup.com. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
6. Duggan, Jamie (13 June 2021). "Tender open for new £370m HS2 Interchange Station in the Midlands". RailAdvent. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
7. Hakimian, Rob (11 July 2022). "Laing O'Rourke wins £370M HS2 Interchange station job". New Civil Engineer. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
8. "HS2 Interchange Station: An exemplar project for integrating safe by design principles". HS2 Learning Legacy. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
9. "East Birmingham to Solihull Metro Extension – Midland Metro Alliance". Retrieved 30 July 2020.

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