Cross-City Line

‎History: more refs

← Previous revision		Revision as of 20:28, 22 June 2016
Line 64:		Line 64:
	===Electrification===		===Electrification===
−	By the late-1980s, the elderly diesels operating the service were becoming increasingly unreliable, and the WMPTE (now re-branded as Centro) pressed for [[Railway electrification in Great Britain|electrification]]. The decision to electrify the line was made on 7 February 1990 by the then Transport Minister [[Cecil Parkinson]] during the campaign for [[Mid Staffordshire by-election, 1990|a by-election]] in the Mid Staffordshire constituency.<ref name="Redditch MRC"/>	+	By the late-1980s, the elderly diesels operating the service were becoming increasingly unreliable, and the WMPTE (now re-branded as Centro) pressed for [[Railway electrification in Great Britain|electrification]]. The decision to electrify the line was made on 7 February 1990 by the then Transport Minister [[Cecil Parkinson]] during the campaign for [[Mid Staffordshire by-election, 1990|a by-election]] in the Mid Staffordshire constituency.{{sfn|Boynton|1993|pp=92-104}}<ref name="Redditch MRC"/>
−	Work started on electrifying the route with the [[25 kV AC railway electrification|25 kV AC]] [[overhead line]] system in May 1991, and it was completed on 6 June 1993. Redditch, Alvechurch, Aston and Blake Street stations were rebuilt at this time. A number of other stations including Barnt Green were extensively modified to accommodate the new longer electric trains. A new fleet of [[British Rail Class 323|Class 323]] [[Electric Multiple Units]] were introduced to work the electrified line, and replace the elderly diesels. Full service with the Class 323s did not begin until 1994, due to problems with the new units. Some elderly {{brc|304}}, {{brc|308}} and {{brc|310}} EMUs were drafted in to operate services in the interim, along with some of the original diesel units.<ref name="Redditch MRC"/>	+	Work started on electrifying the route with the [[25 kV AC railway electrification|25 kV AC]] [[overhead line]] system in May 1990, and it was completed on 6 June 1993. Redditch, Alvechurch, and Blake Street stations were rebuilt at this time. A number of other stations including Barnt Green were extensively modified to accommodate the new longer electric trains. A new fleet of [[British Rail Class 323|Class 323]] [[Electric Multiple Units]] were introduced to work the electrified line, and replace the elderly diesels. Full service with the Class 323s did not begin until 1994, due to initial reliability problems with the new units. Some elderly {{brc|304}}, {{brc|308}} and {{brc|310}} EMUs were drafted in to operate services in the interim, along with some of the original diesel units.{{sfn|Boynton|1993|pp=92-104}}<ref name="Redditch MRC"/>
	===Recent developments, and ongoing works===		===Recent developments, and ongoing works===