A LONG-AWAITED opening date for the new multi-million-pound Worcestershire Parkway has still not been confirmed with some safety tests now finished but rumours the station would finally be open this weekend were quashed.

Worcestershire County Council has said the much-delayed opening of the £22 million station was down to long but necessary safety tests which had to be completed before Worcestershire Parkway could open to the public.

The Office of Rail and Road, the body responsible for safety regulation of railways, said it had now completed all the necessary safety tests and it was up to the council when the station would open.

A potential opening date of February 9 was not confirmed by either Worcestershire County Council or the Office of Rail and Road.

A spokesman said: “The Office of Rail and Road has now granted the necessary authorisation for Worcestershire Parkway Station to enter into service.”

The county council said the station was still going through checks and the sign off from the Office of Rail and Road was just one part of the process.

A spokesman for the county council said: “Worcestershire Parkway Station is going through the final stages of the complex rail industry “Entry into Service” process where all the new structures, equipment and facilities are being been tested and commissioned.

“As soon as this process is complete, a date will be confirmed for the station to open.”

The county council said last week (January 31) that services would be stopping at Worcestershire Parkway as soon as it opens and that trains do not yet appear on some timetables as they are 'hidden' by railway companies until an opening date was revealed.

The county council said it expects to open "well before" the new timetable is released in May but has still not yet given a definite date.

Train timetables have to be agreed months, if not years, before new stations opened so it could be shown that services could call at the station without impacting other routes and stations across the railway network, the county council said.