Birmingham could benefit from more than 400 extra passenger trains a day under an ambitious new £3.5 billion vision for Midlands' rail services.
Regional transport body Midlands Connect has launched its new 'Midlands Engine Rail' which it says would dramatically improve services not just in Birmingham but across the West and East Midlands, if adopted in full by the Government.
Its plans include 736 more passenger trains on the Midlands network each day - including 416 more trains calling in central Birmingham - faster and more frequent services to locations such as Nottingham, Derby, Telford, Shrewsbury and Worcester and full integration with HS2.
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Midlands Connect also wants to create space for an additional one million lorries' worth of cargo to be transported by rail annually and more than 30 additional services to Birmingham International, serving the airport and NEC.
Its plans are made up of seven separate projects spanning the Midlands (see factfile below) which it says are aimed at supercharging the region's economy, driving sustainability through fewer car journeys and improving social mobility.
It includes and builds upon the Midlands Rail Hub scheme aimed at boosting east-west connectivity that was submitted to the Government in June and would see a multimillion-pound overhaul of Moor Street station and the public areas around it.
It is designed to be delivered in stages from 2022 to the completion of HS2 phase two which could now be as late as 2040 following a recent rethink over its original completion date of 2033.
Civic and business leaders are now calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to back Midlands Engine Rail, fund the next stage of its development - £45.5 million over the next three years - and to display the same enthusiasm for infrastructure investment in the Midlands as he has in the North.
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Sir John Peace, chairman of Midlands Connect and the Midlands Engine, said: "In the Midlands, more people are travelling on the railways than ever before.
"We now need investment from government to allow our people, businesses and infrastructure to reach their full potential and to drive a further boost in passenger numbers.
"Midlands Engine Rail is essential in creating a more sustainable, productive and mobile Midlands.
"Whether they live in Shrewsbury, Lincoln, Birmingham or Leicester, our communities deserve the opportunity to make greener choices, to access a world-class education and to reach the widest possible variety of career opportunities.
"My message to the Prime Minister is clear - it's time you made a long-overdue commitment to the future of our rail network."
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street added: "The West Midlands is undergoing a £4 billion transport revolution, with rail at its core.
"The better connected our region is through improved rail services then the more chance we have of sustaining our economic growth - which is higher than any region outside of London.
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"We are doing what we can to improve our rail offering.....however, there is still plenty more to be done, particularly around capacity.
"I look forward to working with both the Government and Midlands Connect on its Midlands Engine Rail plans to see how we can further improve rail services and connectivity in the West Midlands."
The vision is broken down into seven key separate projects:
Birmingham Airport Connectivity
The introduction of 32 extra daily services to and from Coventry and Birmingham International aimed at improving access to the airport, NEC campus, 海角视频 Central and the HS2 Interchange station. This would also include direct links to Birmingham International from Derby, Sheffield, York and Newcastle.
Midlands Rail Hub
A £2 billion rail programme unveiled in June which is aimed at transforming east-west connectivity across the Midlands, creating space for faster and more frequent services between locations such as Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Derby and Nottingham. This would include 24 extra passenger trains per hour and 85,000 extra seats into and out of Birmingham city centre each day.
Birmingham - Black Country - Shrewsbury
Plans are being developed to improve the speed and frequency along this route including 32 additional services per day, reducing journey times between Birmingham and Shrewsbury from 56 to 45 minutes and a new direct hourly service from Shrewsbury to London via Wellington and Telford.
Midlands Connect HS2 Conventional Compatible Services
Announced earlier this week, Midlands Connect wants HS2 trains to travel directly between Birmingham and Nottingham on both the new high-speed line and traditional rail lines without the need to change at the HS2 East Midlands Hub in Toton, south west of Nottingham. Using so-called 'Conventional Compatible Services', it would slash the current journey time between the two cities from 72 to 33 minutes.
A second element would see the electrification of some East Midlands routes to enable a direct service between Bedford, Leicester and Leeds, also using part of the new HS2 network north of Toton.
Derby - Stoke - Crewe
Plans to introduce faster, more frequent services along the corridor, projected to increase passenger demand on the line by 72 per cent, to 350,000 users per year by 2037. This would double services to two trains per hour and reduce journey times between Derby and Crewe from 79 to 59 minutes.
HS2 East Midlands Hub Connectivity
Project is investigating how to enhance links between the towns and cities of the East Midlands with the new HS2 hub in Toton including four trains per hour from Leicester, Nottingham and Derby, and connectivity to other local towns.
Nottingham - Lincoln
A doubling of services to two trains per hour, also calling at Newark, and the reduction of journey times from 55 to 45 minutes.