Further work to clean up a disused railway line that has become prone to anti-social behaviour is being considered by Centro, the region’s transport authority.
More than £150,000 has already been spent on repairs and maintenance to three bridges along the North Walsall Cutting but Centro is now investigating the possibility of filling in the 1.2 km long railway cutting and then landscaping over it.
The authority wants to hear from companies interested in carrying out the work which would involve compacting hundreds of tons of hardcore material into the cutting which runs between Reedswood Way and Rycroft Junction, north of Walsall town centre.
Chris Holden, a senior project manager at Centro, said:
“The cutting has suffered from anti-social behaviour which is why we are keen to infill it for the benefit of the local community and environment.
“We were given planning permission to infill the cutting last year and are now inviting expressions of interest from firms to carry out the work which will require around 80,000 cubic metres of imported material, along with landscaping and general improvement works.”
The infilling would follow on from work Centro has been doing to three of the cutting’s bridges, Upper Green Lane Bridge, Bloxwich Road Bridge and Proffitt Street Bridge.
The work involves clearing vegetation, removing graffiti, re-pointing and repairing brickwork, painting the steel beams and installing new fencing.
Upper Green Lane Bridge and Bloxwich Road Bridge have already been done and work is underway on Proffitt Street Bridge which is due for completion in late summer.
The cutting forms part of a proposed future route for the Midland Metro tram system.
The so-called 5Ws route would link Wolverhampton to Wednesfield, Willenhall, Walsall and Wednesbury The route remains a regional transport priority and will be taken forward when funding permits.
Seems nuts to be filling in a cutting you intend to
use for a future LRT route, but what do I know!