Polesworth railway station

History

Polesworth station was opened with the line in 1847 by the London and North Western Railway.

In recent years the station has been gradually run down. In the 1980s the station had 6 northbound and 6 southbound trains per day running mainly between Rugby and Stafford. A few trains terminated at Nuneaton and Lichfield. Train services were largely operated using the Class 304 electric multiple units; at times the more modern Class 310 units were used instead, both of which have long since been withdrawn from service.

With the re-opening of the Coventry to Nuneaton Line in 1987, services terminated at Coventry instead of Rugby. Train services were operated using the Class 153 diesel multiple units, yet these trains suffered from a low top speed and relatively poor acceleration on what is a very busy route.

In 2005, Polesworth received no train services due to the modernisation of the West Coast Main Line. Scheduled trains were replaced by a bus service contracted to Central Trains. The footbridge to the up platform was removed by contractors and has not been replaced (as a result of the cost being unjustified); thus, the station currently only receives one northbound parliamentary train service per day, the 07:23 on weekdays (07:26 on Saturdays) London Midland service from Northampton to Crewe. This service is operated by a Class 350 Desiro.

Future

In its "West Midlands Route Utilisation Strategy" (2005) the Strategic Rail Authority called for Polesworth station to be closed, noting that each train that calls there receives on average less than one passenger.