Transport in Birmingham
To alleviate pressure on Snow Hill, Moor Street station was opened in 1909 as a terminus for the North Warwickshire lines.
However, in the 1980s, British Rail decided to re-open Snow Hill station as part of the cross-city transport plan for Birmingham.
It reopened in 1987 as part of a completely redeveloped site with new office buildings replacing the original hotel, and multi-storey car parking over the station concourses.
However, in 2002, the original Moor Street station was renovated by the Birmingham Alliance and Chiltern Railways at a cost of £11 million, and converted into a shopping and refreshment area connected to the new platforms.
With more lines receiving £1.7bn in funding to Walsall, Stourbridge, Quinton, Wednesfield, Solihull and New Cross Hospital that are currently in development / planning.
In the early 1950s, the government planned to protect essential communications by building a series of hardened underground telephone exchanges.
Construction of the Anchor exchange in Birmingham started in 1953 with a cover story that a new underground rail network was being built.
Work progressed until 1956 when the public were told the project was no longer economic;[20] instead Birmingham got its underpasses through the city to help relieve congestion.
An underground exchange and tunnel system 100 ft below Newhall Street had been completed at a cost £4 million.
[20] More recently, the Conservative–Lib-Dem alliance running Birmingham City Council proposed an underground system as an alternative to expansion of the Midland Metro.
[21] A£150,000 feasibility study[22] was conducted, looking at the benefits and drawbacks of a state-of-the-art, £3 billion underground system serving the city.
The largest bus operator in the area is National Express West Midlands, which accounts for over 80% of all journeys.
The company changed its name from Travel West Midlands in 2008 as a part of National Express' re-branding.
Smaller operators provide a range of services, either in competition with National Express West Midlands or under contract to TfWM.
Despite the large number of buses serving Birmingham City Centre there is no longer a bus station.
Instead buses terminate at bus stops on roads surrounding the city centre which are given codes assigned by area (e.g. Moor Street Interchange = MS*).
[27] The airport can also be reached via an express bus service from Coleshill Parkway station, on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line which run four times per hour and take around fifteen minutes.
Alternatively, National Express Coventry runs a regular bus service from the City Centre.
The number X1 from Moor Street Queensway to Coventry runs via the airport and the National Exhibition Centre.
A temporary coach station was located in nearby Oxford Street whilst building work was undertaken.
[29][30] Poor air quality kills around 900 people a year in Birmingham and the government has ordered the city to reduce pollution.
National Cycle Route 535 from Sutton Coldfield terminates just north of Birmingham Snow Hill railway station.
A heliport, Hay Mills Rotor Station, operated passenger services to London from 1951 to 1952, with freight flights continuing until 1954.
Birmingham however includes many semi-urban parts and is a far larger city than Venice making for a much lower canal density (concentration).
[34] This contrasts to Venice's broad coastal canals providing the main means of access, surrounded by a lagoon of the Adriatic Sea.
Extensive regeneration of canals has taken place since the 1980s, including dredging to enable the smooth passage of narrowboats, reconstruction and construction of canalside housing.
The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transport is 11 minutes.
