BIRMINGHAM CROSS CITY LINE ELECTRIFICATION

That this House welcomes the fact that at long last the mock-up of the proposed new electric rail stock, type 323, has been unveiled by the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority; regrets that its introduction will not be before November, after the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley, extracted and obtained a promise from the Chairman of British Rail that it would be fully tested prior to introduction into service; and notes the end of a continuous and critical campaign by the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley, on the Transport Committee of this House to obtain the new electrified stock in replacement of the original refurbished 20-year-old stock in 1976, and after the implementation of his plan for the Cross City Line, which was planned in the 1973 report, A Transportation Plan for the West Midlands.