Again going back to Redditch and the 70's when it expanded.
There was, roughly, an hourly service by 2 coach DMU from Redditch to Birmingham New Street - it took 48 minutes for 15 miles. Redditch station is situated well away from much of the New Town growth and at the time, there wasn't a large car park there - there's about 200 places now. The line had always been a single track branch and until it was upgraded it could only handle 2 trains an hour, it can now do a 15 minute service if pushed - a 20 minute service (with a 3-coach EMU) fits in better with possible delays on the Cross-City. The station is fairly remote from the new housing areas although connected by busway - until the 1990's it was quicker to drive from Redditch to Birmingham New Street, only as congestion has built up has the train become faster - also the service has improved with electrification to 37 minutes despite 3 extra stops. In fact the Midland Red buses to Redditch - which could only make limited stops in Birmingham were as quick as the train until the 1990's and one of the two services even served the New Town.
Even if the line had been kept open to Alcester and Evesham. It would have been a drain for many years, there was seven stations between Evesham & Redditch, four of them would probably still be no use and it was old, slow and windy (my husband grew up in that part of Warwickshire/Worcestershire so I know it fairly well), electrification wouldn't be viable even now, but one train an hour to Evesham calling at a brand new stations "Redditch South", Studley, Alcester, Salford Priors and Evesham would now be viable and in the case of Salford Priors probably only in the last five years.
There was, roughly, an hourly service by 2 coach DMU from Redditch to Birmingham New Street - it took 48 minutes for 15 miles. Redditch station is situated well away from much of the New Town growth and at the time, there wasn't a large car park there - there's about 200 places now. The line had always been a single track branch and until it was upgraded it could only handle 2 trains an hour, it can now do a 15 minute service if pushed - a 20 minute service (with a 3-coach EMU) fits in better with possible delays on the Cross-City. The station is fairly remote from the new housing areas although connected by busway - until the 1990's it was quicker to drive from Redditch to Birmingham New Street, only as congestion has built up has the train become faster - also the service has improved with electrification to 37 minutes despite 3 extra stops. In fact the Midland Red buses to Redditch - which could only make limited stops in Birmingham were as quick as the train until the 1990's and one of the two services even served the New Town.
Even if the line had been kept open to Alcester and Evesham. It would have been a drain for many years, there was seven stations between Evesham & Redditch, four of them would probably still be no use and it was old, slow and windy (my husband grew up in that part of Warwickshire/Worcestershire so I know it fairly well), electrification wouldn't be viable even now, but one train an hour to Evesham calling at a brand new stations "Redditch South", Studley, Alcester, Salford Priors and Evesham would now be viable and in the case of Salford Priors probably only in the last five years.