TRAIN passengers are being reminded that the railway at Bromsgrove's new station will be closed for 12 days starting this week as part of a £100 million investment.

The work between Wednesday, October 26 and Sunday, November 6, will improve signalling as part of the Railway Upgrade Plan, to ensure services to and from the town more reliable.

Work will reconfigure the track, points and crossings in the area around Bromsgrove station, and bring into use the new signalling between Five Ways and Ashchurch in Gloucestershire.

As a result, the upgrades will increase the number of trains serving Bromsgrove from December next year, including three per hour to and from Birmingham.

Richard Dugdale, senior sponsor for Network Rail said: "This £100m investment at Bromsgrove is key to modernising the railway through the area and providing passengers with a more reliable, better railway.

"This is the latest programme of work in the scheme after the successful delivery of the new Bromsgrove station which began welcoming passengers in July.

"There is never a good time to close the railway for any length of time but we have looked at all options and worked with London Midland and CrossCountry to complete this work at a time which will cause least disruption to passengers.

"Our Railway Upgrade Plan is delivering significant investment into the railway network which will provide a better, more reliable railway for passengers."

Network Rail, London Midland and CrossCountry have advised there will be alterations to services to and from Bromsgrove, Hereford and Birmingham, during the closure.

The work will allow for the line to be electrified.

Steve Fisher, London Midland head of Regional Services, said: "Electrification will mean we can add lots more trains and lots more services between Bromsgrove and Birmingham.

"This extra capacity will also benefit passengers travelling to Hereford and Worcester as local rail users switch to the more frequent Bromsgrove services."

Ben Rule, Production Director at CrossCountry, added: "When completed, this will deliver extra capacity and more reliable journeys on a very important part of Britain’s railways."

Passengers are advised to check nationalrail.co.uk for the latest information.