Thursday 3rd September 2026
It’s an intriguing development. Commuters being encouraged to travel on a heritage railway. And that’s exactly what began in Worcestershire on Tuesday with the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) joining forces with the West Midlands Rail Executive and West Midlands Railway (WMR) for an eight week trial to test the feasibility of extending National Rail services from Birmingham and Kidderminster on to Bewdley on the Seven Valley Railway.
During the trial a heritage diesel or steam train will operate two journeys in both the morning (outbound) and afternoon (inbound) peak periods, taking commuters the three-and-a-half miles from Bewdley into Kidderminster where there’ll be connections with WMR services to and from Birmingham and return. Through tickets are available to Birmingham from Bewdley costing £16 (for an Anytime Return) representing a £3.60 add-on to the usual price from Kidderminster.
Morning departures from Bewdley for the 10 minute journey leave at 06:40 and 07:40 providing generous connections with WMR trains leaving Kidderminster at 07:08 and 08:08 arriving into Birmingham Snow Hill at 07:46 and 08:46 giving a journey time of just over an hour from Bewdley. Afternoon return journeys depart Snow Hill at 16:46 and 17:46 arriving Kidderminster at 17:25 and 18:25 where the SVR heritage train departs at 17:45 and 18:50 arriving into Bewdley at 17:57 and 19:02.
It’s said this arrangement of National Rail ticket holders making part of their journey on a heritage line using its locos and units and operated by its volunteer staff is unprecedented.
This trial aims to ‘test the market’ to see the potential for passengers making through journeys with the ultimate aim being to run West Midlands Railway trains from its station at Kidderminster to and from the Severn Valley Railway via the connecting track between the two lines just south of the station.
The idea of through trains has been kicked around for many years but intractable problems including trade union concerns at the involvement of volunteer staff (on the Severn Valley Railway) as well as compatibility of safety systems have so far proved intractable impediments.
The two evening WMR trains advertised in the trial both originate in Stratford-upon-Avon before passing through Birmingham (both Moor Street and Snow Hill) and currently terminate at Kidderminster.
The vision is those trains would continue as far as Bewdley but who knows, maybe longer term we could see Bridgnorth (the northern terminus of the SVR) back on the National Rail map.
I thought I’d try out the new service on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning to experience two ‘normal’ days in action guessing the very first inbound morning journeys on Tuesday would be untypical with important stakeholders, media and train enthusiasts adding to numbers travelling.
I’d heard you can buy through tickets to Bewdley from the National Rail system but unfortunately the ticket office in my local station, Hassocks, was unable to help but it could sell me a ticket from Kidderminster to Bewdley so I bought two singles, one for Tuesday afternoon and one for Wednesday morning at the bargain price of £1.30 each way with a Railcard.
All went well with the journey from Hassocks via London and Birmingham albeit I caught an earlier train into Kidderminster than I needed to have done but already waiting to return to Bewdley in the SVR heritage station, which is conveniently adjacent to the National Rail station, at least half an hour before departure were two or three commuters who’d travelled into Birmingham (as well as one to Worcester) in the morning.
They were all very positive about the new arrangements not minding the long connection time in Kidderminster.
The DMU Class 101 train soon rolled into the station for the 17:45 departure and all told 29 passengers travelled on it to Bewdley of whom I estimate around a third being genuine commuters, a third being SVR volunteers and a third enthusiasts.
When the train arrives into Bewdley it returns out of service to Kidderminster for the 18:50 departure which was not so well populated with only one genuine commuter and another SVR volunteer.
Wednesday morning saw me back in Bewdley to catch the first departure at 06:40 with the same DMU arriving in the platform at 06:30 ready for a prompt departure.
Nine passengers (all looking like genuine commuters/passengers rather than inquisitive people like myself) travelled, which was encouraging to see for only the second morning of a completely new service. As I understand also happened on Tuesday morning, two WMR Revenue Protection Officers were at the station as passengers arrived, and also travelled on the train, checking and selling tickets.
They told me they were able to sell through tickets to National Rail stations and their portable machines had been uniquely enabled to do so for the eight week trial.
On arrival in Kidderminster the nine passengers made their way over to the National Rail station and the train and staff returned to Bewdley for the 07:40 departure which I watched arrive at 07:50 with a very impressive 14 passengers – all genuine – alighting and heading over to the adjacent station.
It’s a lovely journey into Kidderminster with lots to see as well as enjoying the bonus of a forward or reverse view out of a DMU front or rear end driver’s cab.
The eight week trial is only operating on Tuesdays to Thursdays and, on a Wednesday afternoon, to fit in with SVR’s scheduled daytime running, the 17:45 and 18:50 journeys will be operated by a steam train making for a strange homecoming contrast for those commuters coming from Birmingham and taking advantage of these new arrangements.
I was initially sceptical on first hearing about this trial. A limited trial GWR tried in summer 2019 running trains between Taunton and Bishop Lydeard on the West Somerset Railway came to nothing and I had my doubts whether there’d be enough commuters in this trial to justify the additional cost of two Revenue Protection Officers selling tickets being tied up for a few hours as well as the costs involved in running the train, although of course for now it’s all being done by volunteers.
As I left the hotel in the centre of Bewdley at around 06:20 yesterday morning for the 10 minute walk to the SVR station it was interesting to see the 06:25 departure to Kidderminster on Diamond Bus route 125 waiting to depart. This would have got me into Kidderminster at 06:54 almost the same time as the SVR train albeit to the bus station, an inconvenient 15 minute walk from the railway station.
Route 125 runs hourly between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster on Mondays to Saturdays with an end to end journey time of 74 minutes compared to SVR’s 70 minutes on five return journeys on WThSSu at this time of year.
Having reflected on my travel experiences yesterday morning and Tuesday afternoon it’s very encouraging to see such a positive response so soon into the trial. Furthermore eight weeks will soon pass and to facilitate timely decisions for any continuation, modification or cessation, I would guess conclusions will have to be reached fairly early next month. I suspect the trial will be extended although that might prove challenging for SVR as its service is normally closed in November, much of December, as well as January and February.
For now though, well done to those involved for getting the trial ‘off the ground’ and on to the tracks after so many years of procrastination.
I’ll be interesting to see what comes next at the end of October.
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS
BusAndTrainUser 
The cab view on DMU’s used to be brilliant.
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I remember a childhood journey returning from a family holiday in Weymouth to Bath on a first generation DMU. My Dad and I sat behind the driver.
Pete
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Thanks for an interesting blog, Roger. It’s heartening in this age of onerous railway unionisation (see EastWest Rail guard concerns) that this thing can happen at all.
It’s probably sensible the connections are quite generous as one suspects the DMU will be limited to the 25mph heritage railway line speed and so probably not offering much of an opportunity to make up time in the event of late running!
Dan Tancock
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I understand that you can ride the Kidderminster-Bewdley section both ways during morning and afternoon peaks, rather than it going one way out of service (unless they’ve changed their minds?)
Phil Tonks
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The SVR have tried this on numerous occasions before and it always fails.
There is simply not enough footfall to sustain a service such as this.
Previously there has been Saturday Shoppers Specials with a DMU & previous weekday marketing of a commuter service
Midland Red West tried integrated bus & SVR rail tickets – again it was an utter disaster
Its very easy on the Snow Hill Lines to book thru to the SVR you just ask for a Bridgenorth Add On.
The SVR is very good as what it does running a heritage service thru Worcestershire & Shropshire
However commuter trains is not one of them & I strongly suspect yet again this is doomed to failure
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On what dates has this been tried on ‘numerous occasion in the past’? I’ve been a member since the 1980s and an active volunteer for quite a few years, and I’ve not heard of a similar such operation on the SVR before.
The trial is not about making money With a fare of £2 single or £3.60 return, it could never do that. However if you look at the wider social benefits that such a service could provide and you may see things differently. Yes, you could only do this long term with paid staff, but the challenges are not not impossible to achieve.
After all the operation is not unlike the local rail operator providing sponsorship to a local bus or coach operator to operate a dedicated bus link from a railway station to a town without such a facility.
Another aspect is that Chiltern trains for example, doesn’t operate solely on Network Rail lines – it operates over a considerable part of London Underground’s Metropolitan Line from Harrow-on-the-Hill to Amersham, serving the same stations as the Metropolitan Line itself.
Unlike bus travel, which is dependent of local traffic conditions, having to make make multiple stops at bus stops en-route, as well as being held in traffic at traffic lights and road junctions, although the train only runs at 25mph, it does so, usually non-stop between the two locations and even at this low speed can easily cover the distance in 8 to 10 minutes. It should also be mentioned that all of road route between the two towns is subject to lower speed limits too, some as low as 20mph, for example.
I do not think that the aspirations of the SVR is to extend its operating area any further, rather this is an experiment to gauge potential passenger demand for an extension of the local train operator’s services using the operator’s modern rolling stock and extending some of its national rail services at its own financial risk.
There is after all, a fully signalled rail connection to Network Rail that is provided to passenger train carrying standard and it sees quite a bit of use.
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l believe that the Watercress line had ideas to run commuter links from Alresfird to Alton to connect with NSE early on in the line’s operation but nothing transpired.
John St. Albans
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Yes, in the noughties a small team of us from the County Council spent an early morning shift surveying commuters at Alton hoping to catch many who had driven up from Alresford. The results may still be languishing in a box file at HCC!
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I also have a vague recollection that a trial from Medstead and Four Marks into Alton, which was meant to use Parry People Movers was also mooted but that there was some issue with the unit which meant that it never happened. The parallel 64 bus route is far more frequent with a longer operating day than it was 10 years ago.
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Doubt this will be sustainable long term. Surely a bus from Bewdley town centre to Kidderminster mainline station would be a better prospect.
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The 125 used to provide this link from Bewdley to Kidderminster Railway Station
Until very recently as it extended from Kidderminster to Stourbridge however it was withdrawn due to lack of use
National Express West Midlands Service 25 now provides a partial replacement between Kidderminster & Dudley.
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There appears to be a minor typo in the explanation of departures stating the second evening service departs Kidderminster 18:59 when it actually departs at 18:50 as correctly stated later.
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Thanks for spotting that- now corrected.
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Well done for getting up so early to monitor proceedings! I remember the Weardale Railway running a very different commuter service between Stanhope and Bishop Auckland for more than a year back in 2010. This was very different territory, covering 15 miles through lightly populated villages. Over this distance the 25mph limit was a definite disadvantage and the long established Weardale Motor Services continue to provide the service to this day.
The three mile Bewdley to Kidderminster interurban journey is a very different prospect and, as a SVR member I wish them well. However, I’m not sure how many volunteers would relish getting up so early when volunteering effectively becomes a job. As ever, time will tell.
Paul from Leicester
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While this seems like a good idea, I think the 8 weeks trial is nothing but a Look at what I am trying story.
You may not get the numbers they want to use it as potential passengers may not think it worthwhile changing their commute for something that may not last and passengers would need to change their routine again having already changed it to use the service.
It would be better to try and do this sort of innovation on a long term bases, minimum of 1 year hopefully longer, we as a society seem to expect instant success nowadays, sometimes success take time to build.
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How does it fit in with “normal” SVR operating schedules?
Rather than a heritage full mainline railway unit, a Coventry-style VLR single car might work, if allowed to run on line of sight rules and at higher speeds.
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Many thanks for trying this out. I’m intrigued that the 125 (and 291) buses from Bewdley don’t serve Kidderminster station. Is this just the ‘bus passengers don’t use trains and train passengers don’t use buses’ myth which (some) rail and bus managers have used to avoid trying out integration? Or is there some strange conflict in the Kidderminster road system?
Rick Townend
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There is simply no demand for a direct link to Kidderminster Railway Station from Bewdley
Various routes have been tried over the years with the erstwhile 2 from Bark Hill extended to the Railway Station- That failed.
The 125 from Bridgnorth via Highley & Bewdley was extended to Stourbridge via the Railway Station- That failed
There is simply no demand for a direct bus from Bewdley to Kidderminster Railway Station if there was Diamond Bus would provide a link.
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One of the big problems with bus-train connections is settling on a reasonable connection time between modes.
The morning connections seem to be decent, with time for purchasing a ticket AND the obligatory coffee!!
The afternoon connections seem to be rather excessive . . . commuters heading home are very demanding of waiting around, and 20-25 minute connectiosn are simply too long . . . I suspect that AM numbers will be decent, whereas PM numbers will be low, with “kiss and ride” connections predominating!!
Worth a try, and I do hope it survives, but somehow I doubt it . . .
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