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Aston Villa to reap reward of £2.4bn cash injection as Witton Station update emergesThe railway station is key to plans to expand capacity at Villa Park - and now the next stage of work can

beginCommentsSportKeith Wales16:06, 04 Jun 2025Villa boost... Witton railway station Long suffering Aston Villa fans were handed a huge boost today with the news that funding is in place to

take the next step in redeveloping Witton railway station and access to nearby Villa Park.

Problems with the station, one of the main access points to Villa Park on matchdays, has long been a bugbear of supporters, and also held back aspects of the redevelopment of the stadium.

‌ But Mayor of West Midlands Richard Parker says a government commitment to spend up to £2.4bn on the region’s transport infrastructure has “enough headroom” to support his manifesto

commitment to improve Witton Station too.

‌ Ironically, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the overall investment will be Villa’s local rivals Birmingham City, with between £300m and £400m of the cash going on extending services

from the city centre to the new sports quarter that will host a planned 62,000-seat stadium for Blues.

However, Parker is keen to follow through on pledges to improve Witton Station, and today told BBCWM: “I made a manifesto commitment to improve Witton Station, not just for everyday games or

Premier League games at Villa Park, but also for the Euros.

“I want to reassure Villa fans that with the funding we've now got, there's enough headroom in that to support our Witton plans.

Article continues below “Now what we've got to start on is the next stage of the business case, working with the club and Network Rail, and I want to reassure Villa fans that that work is

already in progress.”

Improvements will include new passenger ramps to both platforms to increase queuing capacity after matches, a new pedestrian and cycle subway under the line at Station Road, plus wider and

deeper platforms to allow more people to queue for bigger and longer trains.

‌ Witton is the closest rail station to Villa Park, no more than a five-minute walk away, but the club have made clear that plans to expand the capacity of the ground can not go ahead

without significant improvements to local transport links.

And pressure to get the work done has grown since Villa Park was named as one of the venues for Euro 2028, alongside Wembley Stadium and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Cardiff's

Principality Stadium, Manchester City's Etihad Stadium, Everton's new venue at Bramley-Moore Dock, Newcastle's St. James' Park, Hampden Park in Glasgow, Dublin’s Aviva Stadium plus Casement

Park in Belfast.

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