The Chase Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs from its southern terminus, Birmingham New Street, to Walsall, and then Rugeley Trent Valley in Staffordshire, where it joins the Trent Valley line. The name of the line refers to Cannock Chase which it runs through at its northern end.

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Chase Line
Chase Line
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	West Midlands
Termini	Rugeley Trent Valley Walsall Birmingham New Street
Stations	17
Service
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	West Midlands Railway
Depot(s)	Bescot
Rolling stock	Class 350 Class 730
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV AC OHLE
Route map

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Legend
Trent Valley line to Stafford │ to Rugby Rugeley Trent Valley Rugeley B Power Station Rugeley Town Brindley Heath Hednesford Cannock Mineral Railway Cannock  M6 Toll  Wyrley and Cheslyn Hay Landywood limit of TfWM area Bloxwich North Bloxwich Birchills South Staffordshire line Sutton Park line Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway Walsall Walsall– Wolverhampton line South Staffordshire line  M6  Walsall–Wolverhampton line to Wolverhampton Bescot Stadium Bescot TMD Tame Bridge Parkway Tame Valley Canal  M5  Newton Road Hamstead Perry Barr Junctions Handsworth Wood Perry Barr Soho Road Witton Midland Metro  A38(M)  Snow Hill Lines Cross-City Line Rugby–Birmingham– Stafford line Soho Junctions Cross-City Line Aston Birmingham New Street to Stechford New Street South Tunnels Duddeston Proof House Junction Rugby–Birmingham– Stafford line TfWM free parking Other car parking

Part of the line, between Birmingham and Walsall, has been electrified since 1966; work to electrify the remaining 15 mile stretch of line between Walsall and Rugeley, was completed in December 2018.^[1][2]

• The line from Birmingham via Aston, Perry Barr and Bescot was opened in 1837 as part of one of the earliest railway main lines; the Grand Junction Railway (GJR). This line did not serve Walsall directly, but continued from Bescot to Wolverhampton (this is now part of the Walsall–Wolverhampton line). A station on the GJR called Walsall was opened on the outskirts of the town, this was later renamed Wood Green, and is now closed. The GJR became part of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in 1846.^[3]
• The section through Walsall, including the present Walsall station was opened in 1849 by the South Staffordshire Railway, as part of their (now closed) South Staffordshire line from Dudley to Wychnor Junction, north of Lichfield, a connection was opened from Walsall to the GJR at Bescot, allowing direct Walsall-Birmingham trains.^[3]
• The section between Walsall and Rugeley Trent Valley was constructed by the South Staffordshire Railway, and the Cannock Mineral Railway (CMR): The South Staffordshire Railway built the line from Walsall to Cannock, opening in 1858, and the CMR built the line from Cannock to Rugeley, opening in 1859. The South Staffordshire Railway was absorbed by the LNWR in 1867, as was the CMR two years later.^[3]
• The last part of what is now the Chase Line, the Soho Loop Line; a link running from Perry Barr Junction on the original GJR to Soho Junction on the Stour Valley Line, allowing an alternative route into Birmingham from the west which bypassed Aston, was opened by the LNWR in 1889. Two stations were opened on this line; Soho Road and Handsworth Wood, both were closed in 1941.^[3]

The line from Birmingham to Walsall (sometimes referred to as the Walsall Line) has two alternative routes, both electrified at 25 kV AC overhead. One leaves New Street to the east, following the Cross-City Line as far as Aston, where it diverges to the west. The other leaves to the west, and travels via Soho. Beyond Walsall, the line was electrified in 2019, and continues north to Rugeley. This section was freight-only for some years, reopening to passenger trains in stages between 1989 and 1998.

Places served on the route are listed below. For information on the stations, please refer to the list in the route map.

Chase Line (Birmingham - Walsall - Rugeley)

• Rugeley – Rugeley Town & Rugeley Trent Valley – Interchange services to London Euston and Crewe railway station.
• Brindley Heath (closed in 1959)
• Hednesford
• Cannock
• Great Wyrley (closed in 1965)
• Landywood
• Bloxwich North
• Bloxwich
• Walsall
• Bescot (for Bescot Stadium, the home of Walsall FC), Wednesbury & IKEA
• Stone Cross (near Tame Bridge Parkway station)
• Hamstead
• Perry Barr
• Witton – for Villa Park
• Aston – for Aston Villa F.C. and Aston Hall
• Duddeston
• Birmingham New Street (Interchange for Grand Central, Bullring, ICC, Symphony Hall & The Mailbox)
  • Services then continue onwards to Wolverhampton or Birmingham International via the Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line.

Passenger trains are operated by West Midlands Railway on behalf of Transport for West Midlands.

Monday to Saturday daytime there are four trains per hour from Birmingham New Street to Walsall. Two per hour run via Aston and call at all stations, the other two per hour run direct via Soho and call at Tame Bridge Parkway and Walsall. Two of these per-hour continue to Rugeley Trent Valley during the day, dropping to one in the late evenings.^[7]

There is also a 6am service from Wolverhampton to Rugeley Trent Valley but this is only one way. It runs the entire Birmingham to Walsall section calling at all stations them onto the Chase Line.

As of May 2019, following the electrification of the line north of Walsall, West Midlands Trains began operating 2tph (Mon–Sat) from Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham International with 1tph continuing to Northampton or London Euston. On Sundays, all services from Rugeley terminate at Coventry. All services are operated by Class 350 EMUs,^[8] Track is Shared with the Cross-City Line between Birmingham New Street and Aston.

The lines between New Street and Walsall were electrified in 1966 as an offshoot of the West Coast Main Line electrification, along with the Walsall–Wolverhampton line.^[9]

In July 2012, the coalition government announced the electrification of the Chase Line between Rugeley Trent Valley and Walsall, with work scheduled to take place from 2014. It was estimated to cost around £36 million, as part of a £9.4 billion package of investment in the railways in England and Wales, including £4.2 billion of new schemes, unveiled by the government.^[10] Preliminary work to re-signal the route ahead of electrification was completed in August 2013, with the closure of the three remaining manual signal boxes at Bloxwich, Hednesford & Brereton Sidings and the panel boxes at Walsall & Bescot. Control of the area passed to the Saltley Rail Operating Centre.

The work originally had an estimated completion date of December 2017, but previously unknown mine shafts underneath the track meant that many bases for the overhead infrastructure had to be redesigned.^[11] Network Rail closed the line in August 2017 for two weeks.^[12] The electrification was finally completed in December 2018,^[2] the first electric train services started in May 2019.^[13]

• West Midlands Railway Class 170 635 approaching Rugeley Trent Valley
• A Class 323 in its former London Midland livery at Walsall
• Class 323 201 in its former Central Trains livery at Bescot Stadium
• Walsall Station in 1979
• Chase line electrification notice at Rugeley Trent Valley
• 150009 heading south towards Walsall station, with a service from Rugeley Town.