 Despite these statements, the company then entered into arbitration to ensure that the colliery companies could not make any claims against the canal company because of the change of plan.The branch opened in 1796, and the arbitration was completed two years later.The BCN Old Main Line became the Wednesbury Oak Loop when it was bypassed in the 1830s by a straighter route, originally planned as a deep cutting, but which incorporated the Coseley Tunnel, construction of which was authorised in 1835.