Alvechurch railway station

Alvechurch National Rail

Alvechurch station in 2015.
Location
Place Alvechurch
Local authority Bromsgrove
Grid reference SP022719
Operations
Station code ALV
Managed by London Midland
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Steady 0.138 million
2011/12 Increase 0.161 million
2012/13 Decrease 0.151 million
2013/14 Increase 0.159 million
2014/15 Decrease 0.145 million
History
Key dates Opened 1 November 1859 (1 November 1859)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Alvechurch from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Alvechurch railway station serves the village of Alvechurch in North Worcestershire, England. It is on the Cross-City Line 11 1⁄4 miles (18 km) southwest of Birmingham New Street. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland. The station itself is an unstaffed station.

Originally a single platform station on a single-track line, a second platform was added during 2014, when a new passing loop was constructed on the line through the station, in order to allow a more frequent service.

Services

As of December 2014, the station is served every 20 minutes by trains to Redditch Monday to Saturday, and every 30 minutes on Sundays. Northbound Monday to Saturday, there are trains every 20 minutes; one per hour to Four Oaks, one to Lichfield City and one to Lichfield Trent Valley. On Sundays, there are trains every half-hour to Lichfield Trent Valley.[1] This increase follows the installation of a passing loop and second platform at the station in 2014.

History

Alvechurch station was built as part of the Redditch Railway and opened on 1 November 1859. From the beginning it was operated by the Midland Railway, who had extended the line south of Redditch to Evesham and Ashchurch (the Gloucester Loop Line) by 1868. It became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the 1923 railway grouping. Under the 1948 transport nationalisation it became part of the London Midland Region of British Railways.

Passenger services beyond Redditch ended in October 1962 and the line closed completely in July 1964 - the remainder of the route (including the station here) was threatened with closure following the publication of the Beeching Report in 1963 but subsequently reprieved (albeit with a much reduced level of service - just four trains per day each way from the mid-1960s onwards) to serve the planned Redditch New town development announced in 1964.

As a result of the Transport Act 1968, from 1969 BR operated the passenger service on behalf of the newly created West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive. In 1982 BR divided its business into sectors, and Alvechurch came under its Regional Railways sector. Under the Privatisation of British Rail, Regional Railways was divided into several train operating companies. From 1997 Alvechurch became part of the Central Trains franchise. In 2007 the first franchise expired and was restructured. The new franchise was awarded to London Midland and runs until 2015.

As a PTE station, Alvechurch has train services operated under the Network West Midlands names. Under their auspices, the service was significantly improved in 1980 when the branch became part of the recently inaugurated Cross-City Line from Lichfield City via New Street and Kings Norton.[2]

When the Cross-city line was upgraded and electrified in 1993 the platform at Alvechurch was re-sited slightly northwards. The new platform adjoins the old one end to end. The former station building is now privately owned.

2014 rebuild

The section of the Cross-City Line between Barnt Green and Redditch was single track. Network Rail planned to increase capacity by adding a passing loop and second platform at Alvechurch. This was also to include a footbridge and lifts to reach the new platform. This was to allow the service to be increased from two to three trains per hour.[3] The scheme was approved in November 2013.[4]

The Work to upgrade Alvechurch station began in November 2013. As of January 2014 the station was cleared and work began on building the new platform and footbridge.

In May 2014 the lift shaft on platform 2 was clearly visible from platform 1.

The section of line between Longbridge and Redditch was closed for 2 months from July 2014 to the end of August 2014 for the new track to be laid and overhead cables to be installed.[5] It was reopened on 1 September 2014. The improved service began in December 2014.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.londonmidland.com/download/104449.8/lichfield-birmingham-redditch/
  2. ↑ History of the Cross-City LineRedditch MRC; Retrieved 2013-12-16
  3. ↑ "Investing in the Midlands, December 2011". Rail Professional Magazine. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  4. ↑ "Major transport infrastructure schemes given green light". Planning Resource. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  5. ↑ London Midland and Network Rail
  6. ↑ Connie Osborne (1 September 2014). "Commuters back on track with railway opening". Redditch Standard. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "London Midland reveals new timetable and additional seating across network". birminghammail.co.uk. Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 17 December 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alvechurch railway station.
Preceding station National Rail Following station
London Midland
Historical railways
Line and station open
Midland Railway
Line and station open

Coordinates: 52°20′46″N 1°58′05″W / 52.346°N 1.968°W / 52.346; -1.968

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.