New £1.9m Cradley Heath interchange work begins

Work has begun on a £1.9m scheme to transform Cradley Heath bus and rail interchange. The revitalised facility will feature six bus stands, four within the main building and two on a newly constructed island stand. Each stand will have automatic doors that only open when the bus arrives. Other new features include new toilets with parent and child provision, electronic passenger information for bus and rail, a CCTV system and Help Points. For disabled passengers, there will be tactile information at each stand and talking totems that will give audio passenger information when a special key fob is used. The work is set to be complete in the New Year.

It is being paid for through the Better Bus Area Fund, which provided a £10m pot to improve public transport in Brierley Hill, Merry Hill and Cradley Heath. As part of this project, work is already underway on a £1.2m bus priority and road improvement scheme in nearby Merry Hill. The funding is made up of contributions from the DfT, bus operators, Sandwell Council and Dudley Council and Centro, the public transport co-ordinator for the West Midlands. Cllr John McNicholas, the chairman of Centro, said that with 330 bus departures a day the current station no longer met the needs of a modern interchange.