Birmingham City Centre - Transport

Transport

Birmingham New Street station is the main railway station in the city centre with local and national railway connections. The station was first built in 1854 and rebuilt in 1967. The redevelopment of the station in a project named Gateway Plus is awaiting funding from the UK Government. Birmingham Moor Street station, Birmingham Snow Hill station, Bordesley railway station and Jewellery Quarter railway station are also located within the city centre. Ten suburban and Inter-City heavy rail routes service the city centre. The first railway station to be built in the city centre was Curzon Street railway station, which acted as the terminus for both the London and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway, with lines connecting Birmingham to London and to Manchester and Liverpool respectively. The building, designed by Philip Hardwick, was built in 1838 and is Grade I listed.

The Midland Metro system, opened in 1999, terminates at Snow Hill station and has stops at St Paul's and the Jewellery Quarter. There are plans to extend Line One into the city centre to New Street station and on to Five Ways. In 2007, construction of a new viaduct to carry the Midland Metro line over Great Charles Street Queensway commenced. The viaduct is being built by the developers of Snowhill adjacent to Snow Hill station. The viaduct will be turfed over until the funding for the extension and planning permission have been granted. Birmingham city centre used to have a trolleybus system in the 19th century and early-20th century which extended towards the suburbs.

The trolleybus system was replaced by motor buses and the city centre is now the hub for the bus system in the city. The buses mainly terminate at Bull Street, Corporation Street and Moor Street Queensway. The majority of these buses are operated by National Express West Midlands. The city centre is also the hub for the national coach network. Digbeth Coach Station, which is currently in the process of being prepared for redevelopment, is owned and operated by National Express who are to move their headquarters to the city. It was built by Midland Red in 1929, and until 1997 was also used by Midland Red West as a depot. The shed to the rear of the coach station has been demolished and Spencer House, the office building above the main waiting room, has been boarded up. A planning application for the refurbishment of the building has been submitted and is awaiting planning permission. A temporary coach station on the opposite side of the road is currently being used.

Cars are not officially encouraged in the city centre. Some areas have been pedestrianised to prevent cars interfering with pedestrian traffic, and some roundabouts with pedestrian subway systems have been replaced with signal-controlled junctions, e.g. on Smallbrook Queensway, Moor St Queensway, James Watt Queensway and St Chad's Circus near St Chad's Cathedral. However, there are still the remnants of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road (Queensway) in existence despite much demolition and downgrading, with a de facto heavily-trafficked "half-ring" with vehicular underpasses for through traffic on St Chads Queensway, Great Charles St Queensway and Suffolk St Queensway. Some at-grade pedestrian crossings go over these roads, but most remain subways or bridges. This "half-ring" does arguably reduce traffic in other parts of the city centre, however.

There are numerous multi-storey car parks located within the city centre, most owned by private companies. A new multi-storey car park is proposed at the rear of Millennium Point whilst the demolition of the multi-storey car park on Dale End has been granted permission by the city council as part of the Martineau Galleries redevelopment by the Birmingham Alliance.