Place Bromsgrove Station code BMV DfT category F1 Opened 1840 | Grid reference SO968693 Managed by London Midland 2011/12 0.523 million Number of platforms 4 | |
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Address Bromsgrove B60 3GF, United Kingdom Similar Barnt Green railway st, Alvechurch railway station, Redditch railway station, Kidderminster railway station, Hartlebury railway station | ||
New bromsgrove railway station closed for 12 days due to 100m improvements oct 2016
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.
Contents
- New bromsgrove railway station closed for 12 days due to 100m improvements oct 2016
- New bromsgrove railway station from shunters bridge
- History
- Services
- Future
- References
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).
New bromsgrove railway station from shunters bridge
History
The station opened as part of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (later part of the Midland Railway) on 24 June 1840.
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 but this is due to an erroneous early report in the Worcestershire Chronicle which was later corrected.). They are buried in Bromsgrove churchyard.
In June 1969 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.
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, and it was estimated that the station could be operational by Easter 2009. However, by June 2009 the project was still only in the development stage and the funding for it was subsequently frozen by the local authority in June 2010.
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. 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. 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. Work began on the new station in March 2014.
Even after construction started, the opening date for the station was delayed several times. It was first scheduled to open in May 2015 and then was postponed to November 2015. It was later due for spring 2016. However contamination on site and a previously undiscovered culvert resulted in the opening date being pushed back to Summer 2016. The new £24 million station opened on 12 July 2016, currently with two platforms in use for passengers. The old station platforms and associated structures are currently being removed, with demolition work due for completion in October 2016.
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. 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.
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.
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.
The first timetabled electric services are scheduled to start in May 2017.