Wolverhampton railway station

History

The first station on this site was opened on 1 July 1852 by the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway, a subsidiary of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR); it was named Wolverhampton Queen Street. The only visible remnant of the original station is the Queen's Building, the gateway to Railway Drive which was the approach road to the station. The building was originally the carriage entrance to the station and was completed three years before the main station building. Today, it forms part of Wolverhampton bus station.

Two years later, on 1 July 1854, the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OWWR) opened a second station, located behind the older station on lower ground, which became known as the Wolverhampton Low Level station from April 1856, the other becoming known as Wolverhampton High Level from 1 June 1885.

From 1923, the LNWR was amalgamated into the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), and in 1948 it became part of the London Midland Region of British Railways.

Services over the former Grand Junction Railway line to Walsall (and thence to Lichfield City and Burton-on-Trent) ended in January 1965, this route being the only one from here to fall victim to the Beeching Axe.

The present Wolverhampton station dates from 1964-67 when the High Level station was completely rebuilt by the architect Ray Moorcroft as part of the modernisation programme which saw the West Coast Main Line electrified. It consisted of three through platforms (the present platforms 1, 2 and 3). As part of this scheme, most services on the OW&WR route from Shrewsbury were diverted here from Low Level (though a few peak-hour trains continued to serve the latter until March 1968); these then continued to Birmingham New Street via the Stour Valley line rather than via the ex-GWR line to Birmingham Snow Hill as before. In the 1980s, a parcels siding was converted into a south-facing bay platform (the present platform 5), and a new north-facing bay was constructed (the present platform 6).

In 1987 twelve different horse sculptures by Kevin Atherton, titled Iron Horse, were erected between New Street station and Wolverhampton, including one at the southern end of platforms 2 and 3.

More recently (in 2004), a new through platform (platform 4) was constructed on the site of infrequently-used sidings. This has greatly enhanced the capacity of the station. A new footbridge was also constructed, to allow access to the new platform but also to improve access to the existing ones. A proposal for a more comprehensive redevelopment of the station and surrounding area was announced on 18 October 2006.

The management of the station will be transferred from Virgin Trains - the current franchise holder of InterCity West Coast to the successful bidder of the West Midlands Rail Franchise in 2018.

Services

Typical weekday operations are as follows:

Virgin Trains:

London Midland:

CrossCountry:

Arriva Trains Wales:

London Midland also run a single Saturdays-only parliamentary train on the line to Walsall via Pleck (the former Grand Junction Railway route that continues to New Street via Aston). This replaced the regular direct service that ran between 1998 and 2008 (when it was withdrawn due to low usage). Centro hope to reintroduce a regular service over the line in the future (ideally when the West Midlands area franchise comes up for renewal in 2016/7) and reopen the old station at Willenhall, though it would require some infrastructure improvements here to accommodate it (i.e. a new bay platform & associated signalling).

Platforms

Wolverhampton station has six platforms: platforms 1 to 4 are through platforms, while platforms 5 and 6 are bay platforms at the south and north ends respectively. Although all four platforms are reversible, in practice platform 1 is used for northbound services, platform 2 is used for northbound and southbound services, platforms 3 and 4 are used for southbound services. Platform 3 is also used for northbound services at busy times. Platform 5 is used by local services to Walsall via Birmingham New Street. Platform 6 was designed for local services on the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line (and was formerly numbered Platform 1c) but is now rarely used, as the majority of services on that route travel through to Birmingham (or occasionally to Walsall). It is generally used for the first service of the day to Shrewsbury and for holding trains when they are not in use.

Platform 4 is now used for all Virgin Trains services from Edinburgh/Glasgow to London Euston. The timetable change on 8 December 2013 saw Virgin Trains running an hourly timetable from Scotland to Euston via the West Midlands and vice versa, replacing the Wolverhampton - Euston service.

All platforms at the station are electrified to 25 kV AC overhead power.

The Interchange Project

The railway station is earmarked for redevelopment as part of the Wolverhampton Interchange Project. Neptune Developments were selected for the project and plan to create a major mixed used area that includes both bus and railway stations, a hotel, retail outlets, bars, cafes and offices.

The plan is to completely rebuild the railway station and improve pedestrian access over the ring road, with a new footbridge link direct to the bus station. After a shortfall in funding for the project, it was decided that the development would take place in phases. Phase One began in April 2010 with the construction of the new bus station which was completed in 2011. A date for Phase Two, which includes the railway station, canalside development, and a hotel, has yet to be decided.

On 31 December 2014 the first phase of the redevelopment of the Railway Station was announced, with the redevelopment of the station's car park, it will see the car park refurbished and extended to take the existing capacity from 520 to just over 900, it will also see a new entrance to the car park created from Mill Street, and will also include parking for Bikes and Motorbikes. It is also expected that a hotel will eventually be developed to change the facade of the Car Park.

From Sunday 8 January 2017, vehicular access to the railway station changed, with access now via Corn Hill. This change coincided with the opening of the extended car park. This has also created a new short stay and drop off area including a new taxi rank. The change will see Railway Drive completely close to enable they laying of tracks for the new Metro extension to commence and the rebuilding of the Railway Station.

Midland Metro stop

As part of the Interchange project, Midland Metro Line One will be extended to the railway station with the addition of a new Metro stop. It is expected to be operational by 2019.