Ever wondered why it takes so long to get between Walsall and Wolverhampton on a train? Chances are – it’s because the service will travel through Birmingham, turning what could be a 15 minute or so journey by rail into one an hour long going around the long way. This has prompted many community organisations, local authorities, MPs and transport enthusiasts to encourage reopening the Wolverhampton to Walsall Line for decades, as a way of reducing journey times between Wolverhampton and Walsall and to decongest the local road network.
I’ll not go into too much detail here as I would love you all to get stuck into the video…and so if you like this video, make sure to give this video a like, subscribe to my channel and share this video. By doing this, you massively help me out and I appreciate it.
Link to Wolverhampton History and Heritage Society: http://www.historywebsite.co.uk
Seriously check this place out – it’s an immensely interesting website about the history of the Black Country more generally and if you enjoyed the historical discussions in this video, you’ll enjoy this.
IMPORTANT: There are images in this video that aren’t my own and so all copyright goes to those who own them!
Copyright SomeNorthLondoner 2025
16 Comments
Rouge-ly not Roogly m/
Nice vid, very good detail, look forward to seeing them open
Not 24 hours ago I was wondering why no trains used this line to connect two pretty major places, leaving the 1 hour 9 minute train via New Street as the only direct link. Funnily enough it is actually faster to go the other way and change at Stafford and come back down via Rugely. I wonder how often a journey is faster changing trains than taking a direct one…
Anyway it's nice to see I'm not alone in thinking running passenger services along this line would be beneficial haha
Great video – I really like your detail on local industries and bus routes.
Can't help thinking that one train an hour isn't enough. Especially if they're aiming at commuters and people in education, that means their market is people who need to arrive at a specific time. An hourly service means that, on average, people will have to arrive half an hour early and, on average, they'll have to wait half an hour for their train home. That's an hour a day sitting around waiting — so is the train really saving you time? Add to that the fact that, unless you're going town-centre-to-town-centre, you're going to need to get to the station, too. And, since missing your train is going to make you really late for work or miss your class, you'd better aim to get to the station plenty of time before the train leaves.
So, instead of being "a fifteen minute rail journey", it's fifteen minutes on the bus to get into Walsall, fifteen minutes sitting around at the railway station because you had to make sure you wouldn't miss the train, fifteen minutes on the train to Wolverhampton and half an hour sitting around in Wolverhampton because the train got you there too early. Wow, that 75-minute, 8-mile commute sounds so appealing!
Work began on this and the Camp Hill lines few years ago. Both are progressing extremely slowly. Since the West Midlands Mayor changed, it seems to be on hold. I don’t think there is any chance of trains going from Aldridge to Birmingham via Castle. Bromwich in the near future. The south east lines out of New Street are at capacity. The only way for it to work is to send the trains into Moor Street by a New Chord at Bordesley. There is a proposal for that.
Good video, thanks,. May I suggest you leave the maps on the screen for a few seconds longer when describing the routes and history, as, for non-locals, it was a 'now you see it, now you don't' experience! Edit: The last 5 minutes definitely needed maps on the screen when discussing possible routes and stations rather than just shots of buses and trains.
Most people know what has led to the downfall of Walsall but are not allowed to voice their opinions.
It's interesting when you look at the settings for Willenhall and Darlaston – Willenhall being very conveniently located for the town centre and surrounding residential areas – Darlaston being on the edge of an out-of-town retail and industrial zone but with a big car park that is likely to attract people from further afield. The main thing I would change would be that each service needs to be every 30 minutes, giving a ~15-minute frequency on the combined section to Wolverhampton – an hourly train on a local service in an urban area is just not good enough.
Most enjoyable and informative. Interesting that electrification was justified as it was considered a diversionary route, when the prevalent attitude during the Marples/Beeching era emphasised 'duplication'. How many vital lines did we lose to that dogmatic oversimplification?
Notice how many of the bus number signs aren't working properly 😂🤦♂️
Very well researched and presented!!
BTW sorry if my pronunciation of “Darlaston” sounds a bit flat. A lot of this was recorded in the aftermath of a cold 😅
Not sure where the 70,000 population figure comes from. Walsall borough has over 250,000. My doubt about this is that the 15 minute station-to-station, especially with so limited a service, is largely irrelevant for most people in Walsall or Wolverhampton, who face a bus ride to the station and a median wait of half an hour.
I live in Walsall & looking forward to using the new service as it could make going to places like Shrewsbury & Manchester easier then go to Rugeley via Stafford Crewe to Manchester & change at Tame Bridge for Shrewsbury.
I would like to see a new station between Aldridge or Bloxwich & Walsall. Ether Ryecroft on Rutland Street or Forest Line on the existing chase line.
The other site would be Mill Lane & the reintroduction of the South Staffordshire line to Lichfield. Having 2 platforms on the Sutton Park line & 2 for the South Staffordshire line. The areas of Rushall, Coalpool, Ryecroft & Harden would benefit from have a new station. Give new housing estates recently being built in these areas . having a new service from Aldridge to Wolverhampton via Mill Line, Walsall Darlaston & Willinhall more profitable & could serve 4 to 6 trains per hour at Mill line from Wolverhampton to Lichfield via Willenhall, Darlaston, Walsall, Mill Lane, Pelsall & Brownhills.
The station at Darlaston is too far outside of the town centre to be of use for Darlaston. It will be more of a park and ride, like Tamebridge Parkway. Depends if parking is free.