CRADLEY Heath will be able to cater for intercity trains again after rail boffins solved the problem preventing them stopping at the train station.

Chiltern Railways had to stop services to London and beyond due to the platform not being long enough but have announced that services will resume in May.

Andrew Munden, operations and safety director at Chiltern Railways, is delighted engineers have found a solution.

He said: “At present, our inter-city silver style trains are not able to stop at Cradley Heath.

“This is due to safety issues relating to the length of the train and the correlating length of the platform.”

He added: “We have been carrying out numerous tests to address this and have identified a solution which will allow us to stop at the station when our new timetable is launched in May.”

The Chiltern Railways silver inter-city trains are designed for long distance travel and were introduced to reduce the travelling time between the Midlands and London.

Cradley Heath station was opened in 1863 by Stourbridge Railway as part of the line between Stourbrdige and Old Hill, it was later incorporated into the wider Birmingham network.

The station was rebuilt in the 1980s and is now managed by London Midland which runs regular services to the station and allows Chiltern Railways to also use the facility.

Cradley Heath and Old Hill councillor John Tipper welcomed the prospect of intercity trains stopping at the station.

He said: “This is really good news for Cradley Heath.

“The train station is fairly well used as is, but this will help ensure the town is better connected than ever before - which is good for local people and will hopefully provide a timely boost for businesses in the area.”