Rail nerds of twitter: When this excellent project finally gets built,... which station in Birmingham will the trains go to? Is the plan still Moor Street? Or have they gone back to New Street?
https://twitter.com/WestMids_CA/status/1373295811522625538
New Street it is. As a veteran of the 50 bus, at worst close to an hour in traffic up to Kings Heath, I am well aware of how important this is for Birmingham's economic success. Excellent stuff.
As long-time followers will know, I have tracked most buses in the West Midlands for about three years now (sounds very weird when I write it). It's all #opendata so I can show you how long buses from Birmingham to Kings Heath took on 22 November 2019. realjourneytime.co.uk/?options=true&… 
This is Birmingham City Centre to Moseley on the 50 bus. The blue line, 15 minutes, is the scheduled bus time. That's what's used in most broad business cases and appraisals. The yellow line, over 40 minutes at peak, is how long the buses really took. realjourneytime.co.uk/?options=true&…
The train should take about 5 minutes, guaranteed, almost every time. It will be a complete game changer and we should expect it to support significant economic growth and big improvements in quality of life.
As Laura points out, it's not all good news. New Street is a congested station. Until #HS2 arrives in Birmingham that won't change. The other option for this line, to divert it to Moor Street, seems to have been parked for now. As has electrifying it.
https://twitter.com/lauracreaven/status/1373941014784835585?s=20
So it is good news. But it's still a UK mid-size city. So it's got to also be a slight missed opportunity. But mostly good news.
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