New Black Country railway stations will be served by fast route from Shrewsbury to New Street

The changes came to light after train operator West Midlands Railway on Monday dropped its hourly fast direct service from Tame Bridge Parkway to Wolverhampton, which was expected to serve the proposed new stations. But it said the service will be replaced next summer.

The company explained that the route had previously been serviced by the Crewe-Birmingham line and as of this week, that service now only runs between Crewe and Stafford and cannot stop at Tame Bridge Parkway or Wolverhampton.

A West Midlands Railway spokesperson said: "As part of wider timetable changes to improve operational performance, our fastest direct service between Tame Bridge Parkway and Wolverhampton was temporarily withdrawn from December 10.

"The service will be reinstated at the next national timetable change in June 2024.

"In the meantime, passengers wishing to travel between Tame Bridge Parkway and Wolverhampton should travel via Birmingham New Street. We thank passengers for their patience and understanding."

On completion of the new stations, two trains per hour will call at Darlaston and Willenhall with an hourly service between Walsall and Wolverhampton and an hourly service between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton.

From June 2 an additional train between Shrewsbury and Birmingham will be introduced to call at Tame Bridge Parkway and Wolverhampton to re-instate the fast connection. This service will also serve the newly-built Darlaston and Willenhall stations when they are opened to passengers.

Train passenger Malcolm Thorpe, 63, a retired railway driver, of Tame Bridge, said: "I used the direct service to get to Wolverhampton to go shopping.

"I was concerned to see it dropped from the timetable, but the reason for the changes seem logical. I'm looking forward to the opening of the new stations."

The £55 million scheme for the stations off Cemetery Road, James Bridge, in Darlaston and off Bilston Street, in Rose Hill, Willenhall, was hit when the original contractor Buckingham Group filed for administration, resulting in groundwork on both sites grinding to a halt. Since then a new deal has been struck between Transport for West Midlands and Kier Transportation to revive it.

Passengers in Darlaston and Willenhall lost their stations in 1965 under the Beeching railway cuts while the track remained intact for through trains. In the 1960s more than 4,000 miles of rail lines were axed on cost and efficiency grounds.