Bromsgrove railway station

Bromsgrove National Rail
Location
Place Bromsgrove
Local authority Bromsgrove
Grid reference SO968693
Operations
Station code BMV
Managed by London Midland
Number of platforms 4
DfT category F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Increase 0.465 million
2011/12 Increase 0.523 million
2012/13 Increase 0.540 million
2013/14 Increase 0.571 million
2014/15 Decrease 0.569 million
History
Key dates Opened 1840 (1840)
2016 Relocation of station
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bromsgrove from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Bromsgrove railway station serves the town of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, England. It is located at the foot of the two-mile Lickey Incline which ascends at a gradient of 1-in-37.7 towards Barnt Green on the line between Birmingham and Worcester. Bromsgrove is managed by London Midland. The current station opened on 12 July 2016, replacing an older station located slightly to the north.[1]

According to Office of Rail Regulation data Bromsgrove is only one of four stations in the UK which get annual usage of over half a million journeys with just an hourly service (Blackrod, Hartlepool and Inverurie being the other 3 stations).[2][3]

History

The station opened as part of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (later part of the Midland Railway) in 1840.[4] On 10 November of that year, an experimental steam locomotive named 'Eclipse' burst its boiler at the station, killing the driver, Thomas Scaife, and fireman, Joseph Rutherford (some authorities say the incident happened on the Lickey Incline). They are buried in Bromsgrove churchyard.[5]

In June 1969[6] the station was rebuilt with a single platform on the up (northbound) side, which required stopping down (southbound) trains to cross to the up line and back again after calling at Bromsgrove station. A new platform on the down side was opened in May 1990.[7]

On 4 May 2007, Network Rail announced that a new station will be built, to replace the existing structure. This was to be in a brownfield site adjacent to the current site, and would allow six car trains to stop at the station. The cost was projected to be in the region of £10-12 million,[8] and it was estimated that the station could be operational by Easter 2009.[9] However, by June 2009 the project was still only in the development stage[10] and the funding for it was subsequently frozen by the local authority in June 2010.[11]

Contamination of the land was a known factor by February 2013 and was included in the Consultation Report published on the Worcestershire County Council website.[12] Planning permission for the new station was eventually granted by Worcestershire County Council in September 2013, three years after the funding for it was previously withdrawn.[13] By this stage it had been decided that the station would have four platforms, able to accommodate nine car trains, and linked by a covered footbridge served by lifts and stairs. A ticket office, waiting room and toilets would also be provided.[14] Work began on the new station in March 2014.[15][16]

Even after construction started, the opening date for the station was delayed several times. It was first scheduled to open in May 2015[17] and then was postponed to November 2015.[14] It was later due for spring 2016.[18][19] However contamination on site and a previously undiscovered culvert resulted in the opening date being pushed back to Summer 2016.[20] The new £24 million station opened on 12 July 2016,[21] currently with two platforms in use for passengers.[22] The old station platforms and associated structures are currently being removed, with demolition work due for completion in October 2016.[23]

Services

The station and most trains serving it are operated by London Midland, who operate an hourly service from Birmingham New Street to Hereford; with additional services in the peak hours starting or terminating short at Great Malvern and Worcester Shrub Hill.[24] Despite the majority of trains passing through Barnt Green, which is the next station northbound from Bromsgrove, only a small number of services daily in each direction call there.

Four CrossCountry services (two each way, peak times only) on the Nottingham to Cardiff Central line also call at Bromsgrove each weekday.

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
London Midland
CrossCountry
Disused railways
Blackwell
Station Closed and Line Open
  Great Western Railway
Stoke Branch
  Stoke Works
Station Closed and Line Open
  Future services  
Barnt Green   London Midland
Cross-City Line
  Terminus

Future

Phase two of the station redevelopment project is set to see the electrification of the line from Bromsgrove to Barnt Green. This was originally planned to happen between 2011 and 2014, but this date has been amended in the wake of the delays to construction work on the new station. This is expected to result in an extra three trains per hour on the Cross-City Line serving the new station, when the new electrification goes live in 2017.[1][25]

The electrification work involves reconstruction of four overbridges between Barnt Greent and Bromsgrove and 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) of electrification works between Barnt Green junction and Bromsgrove. Re-signalling & track relaying work tied into the project at the station and at various points further north saw all services diverted via Kidderminster or replaced by buses between Droitwich Spa & Longbridge for twelve days in the autumn of 2016.[26]

The first timetabled electric services are scheduled to start in May 2017.[27]

Gallery

References

  1. 1 2 "Bromsgrove Railway Station". Wourcestershire County Council. Archived from the original on 13 July 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  2. http://orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/station-usage-estimates
  3. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/3828.aspx
  4. Jowett's Railway Centres Volume 1, Alan Jowett (PSL, 1993)
  5. Rolt, L.T.C. Red For Danger (1966 ed.). Pan Books. p. 69. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  6. A Century of Railways Around Birmingham and the West Midlands, Volumes 2, John Boynton (Mid England Books, 1998)
  7. A Century of Railways Around Birmingham and the West Midlands, Volumes 3, John Boynton (Mid England Books, 1999)
  8. "Bromsgrove to get new station". Network Rail News Releases (Press release). 4 May 2007.
  9. "Bromsgrove Rail User Group". Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  10. "Network Rail schemes in development". Retrieved 9 June 2009.
  11. "New Bromsgrove railway station money frozen". BBC News Hereford & Worcester. 20 June 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  12. "Bromsgrove Rail Station Information - Consultation ReportWorcestershire County Council
  13. "Bromsgrove railway station plans approved Bromsgrove railway station plans approved". BBC News Hereford & Worcester. 24 September 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  14. 1 2 Greenway, Sam (31 Mar 2015). "Bromsgrove's new railway station remains on track for November opening". Bromsgrove Advertiser.
  15. Harris, Nigel, ed. (5–18 February 2014). "Spring 2014 start for Bromsgrove station, ahead of 2015 opening". RAIL. Vol. 741. p. 21.
  16. "Bromsgrove £17.4m railway station replacement starts". BBC News Hereford & Worcester. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  17. "Bromsgrove railway station plans approved"BBC News article 24 September 2013
  18. Railway footbridge ruled too close to power linesBBC News website article, 17 July 2015
  19. Harris, Tristan (6 January 2016). "Bromsgrove's new railway station on track to open in the spring". Bromsgrove Standard. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  20. "Opening of new Bromsgrove train station delayed... again". Bromsgrove Advertiser. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  21. "Bromsgrove railway station opens". BBC News. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  22. "New Bromsgrove Station Opens". Modern Railways. Railway Study Association. 73 (815): 21. August 2016.
  23. "Bromsgrove Progress"Campaign for Rail article 6 May 2016; Retrieved 26 July 2016
  24. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Tables 57 & 71
  25. "Bromsgrove Rail Station". Worcestershire County Council. 2013. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  26. "Passengers warned of 12-day closure for railway works on Bromsgrove line" Collis, Emily Bromsgrove Advertiser news article 12 October 2016; Retrieved 26 October 2016
  27. Peter Hendy (January 2016). Report from Sir Peter Hendy to the Secretary of State for Transport on the replanning of Network Rail’s Investment Programme. Enhancements Delivery Plan Update (PDF) (Report). Network Rail. p. 79. Retrieved 28 July 2016.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bromsgrove railway station.


Coordinates: 52°19′23″N 2°02′53″W / 52.323°N 2.048°W / 52.323; -2.048

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