Work on £70m railway depot is completed

UPGRADES TO HELP KEEP TRAINS ON TRACK

- GURDIP THANDI Local Democracy Reporter

A MAJOR £70 million redevelopment of a Birmingham railway depot aimed at improving reliability of services has been completed.

West Midlands Railway (WMR) and the region's Mayor Richard Parker hailed the new facilities following works at the Tyseley Traction Maintenance Depot.

Work on the site, which maintains and services 94 trains, was carried out as part of a £1 billion investment into new rolling stock and depot upgrades.

Tyseley was specifically modified to support its new Class 196 fleet in addition to more efficiently supporting the WMR Class 172 fleet and CrossCountry's Class 170 trains.

The Class 196 fleet entered service in 2022 and runs on the lines from Birmingham to Hereford and Shrewsbury, and between Nuneaton, Coventry and Leamington.