Progress is being made towards reducing pollution at New Street station which has been described as one of 'the biggest public health issues' Birmingham faces, it has been revealed.

Awareness around the dangers of poor quality air have been heightened in recent weeks following Birmingham City Council announcing plans to introduce a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charge to older vehicles travelling within the ring road.

The problem is estimated to bring about 900 premature deaths a year in the city.

But while the CAZ will tackle pollution generated on the highway network it should not be forgotten that New Street station faces its own major issues.

Birmingham New Street station.
Birmingham New Street station.

In March researchers from the University of Birmingham told a council health scrutiny committee that the levels of nitrogen dioxide sometimes tripled the threshold for an air quality 'incident', which prompts government warnings for people with lung and heart problems to avoid strenuous activity and those with asthma to ensure they have their inhaler to hand.

It prompted Cllr Rob Pocock to compare New Street to a steel foundry while Cllr John Cotton declared the station posed the biggest pollution-related risk to public health in the city.

The problem is mainly caused by trains, in particular diesel powered carriages, sitting 'idle' at the platforms while their engines are still turned on.

Network Rail had vowed to speak with the four main operators Virgin, Cross Country, Arriva and WM Trains about addressing this.

The authority has now provided an update on work to combat air pollution.

A spokesman said: "Air quality levels inside New Street station continue to improve since January 2018, as progress is made to reduce train idling times and increase the effectiveness of the ventilation fans at platform levels.

"We continue to work with the train operators, to update our regulator with developments and remain in contact with the local authority as part of wider plans for better air quality in Birmingham.”

Network Rail stated that further air quality monitoring has taken place since March showing that average pollutants were below European guidance levels for eight-hour periods - used to asses risks to stations workers - but admitted there were still high amounts of Nitric Oxide (NO) recorded over shorter time frames more relevant to train passengers waiting at platforms.

They also vowed to carry out further improvements to the 98 fans installed at the station which push diesel fumes to the open ends of the platforms.

The authority stated they expect to see passengers increase in the future but did not say whether this would be specifically due to the CAZ which is set to be operational by 2020 and could potentially see more people opting to use public transport instead of cars.

A Midland Metro tram passes the entrance to New Street station and Grand Central
A Midland Metro tram passes the entrance to New Street station and Grand Central.

But they declared any rise would not exacerbate New Street's air quality problem and work, as well as possible investment, would continue to tackle the issues.

A spokesman added: "We anticipate more passengers year on year.

"Regardless of this, we will continue to monitor and do all we can to reduce emissions and exposure to emissions through joint working with the train operators which serve the station."

Back in March, the findings prompted university expert John Thornes to call for immediate action.

He said: "These levels are very high, as high as anywhere in the country I would imagine.

"To some extent we are getting people out of their cars in order to use public transport and this is an unexpected consequence that they are going to be exposed to these high levels."

He added: "It is a big problem which needs urgent attention. Hopefully Network Rail is taking it very seriously. We need to continue to monitor this to make sure the levels go down as we hope."

A Nitrogen Dioxide concentration of 600 micrograms per cubic meter or more is classed as 'very high' on the Daily Air Quality Index.

At that level the Government's advice for people with lung and heart problems is to avoid strenuous physical activity while those with asthma may require their inhaler more frequently.

Out of 68 days the university monitored Nitrogen Dioxide at the station the levels matched or exceeded 600 micrograms per cubic meter 65 days whilst some days they more than tripled the benchmark.

Further analysis identified the 15-minute exposure limit for the gas was surpassed on 26 of the days, although it fell under the eight-hour limit - used to asses risks to station workers - on all but one day.

The study took samples from all 12 platforms with platform 2 showing the highest levels of pollution due to the high number of diesel trains which it serves.

On a typical weekday 364 trains dwell for more than five minutes at New Street including 82 which sit for between ten and 14 minutes and 103 which remain there for over 15 minutes.