Kidderminster railway station is the main station serving the large town of
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...
,
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
, England and the wider
Wyre Forest
__NOTOC__
Wyre Forest is a large, semi-natural (partially unmanaged) woodland and forest measuring which straddles the borders of Worcestershire and Shropshire, England. Knowles Mill, a former corn mill owned by the National Trust, lies wi ...
district. The station is operated by
West Midlands Trains
West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...
, and is on the
Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line
The Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster line is a railway line which runs from Birmingham Snow Hill to Worcester via Stourbridge and Kidderminster in the West Midlands, England. It is one of the Snow Hill Lines, with trains operated by W ...
. Regular commuter services run to Birmingham and Worcester, with several direct daily services to/from
London Marylebone
Marylebone station ( ) is a Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network it is also known as London Marylebone and is the southern te ...
. It shares its station approach with the adjacent
Severn Valley Railway station.
Facilities
There is a large car park for 400 cars, administered by West Midlands Trains, in part of the old goods yard between the two railway stations. The Severn Valley Railway has its own car park on the town centre side of their station.
The station has a booking office, a newsagents/snack bar, a BT Phone Box, a cash point and a ticket machine.
In 2009 a footbridge (with lifts) was opened, transforming access between the platforms. Before this work, it was via the road overbridge.
Prior to its demolition, the signal box (a short distance to the south of the station) was known as Kidderminster Junction. This controlled the junction to the Severn Valley Line until its closure in the 1970s.
Severn Valley Railway terminus
The
Severn Valley Railway
The Severn Valley Railway is a heritage railway in Shropshire and Worcestershire, England. The heritage line runs along the Severn Valley from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster, following the course of the River Severn for much of its route, and c ...
's southern terminus shares the same station approach road and is known as ''
Kidderminster Town'' to distinguish it from the
National Rail
National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...
station. This also reflects the GWR tradition of suffixing the station name with "Town" if it was closer to the main body of the town served than that of its competitor(s), which Kidderminster Town achieves to the tune of around 60 yards.
History
Kidderminster station opened with the extension of the
Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton railway
The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OW&WR) was a railway company in England. It built a line from Wolvercot JunctionThe nearby settlement is spelt ''Wolvercote'' and a later station on the LNWR Bicester line follows that spelling. ...
from
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
to
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...
on 1 May 1852. It became an important intermediate station on the line which became part of the
West Midland Railway
The West Midland Railway was an early British railway company. It was formed on 1 July 1860 by a merger of several older railway companies and amalgamated with the Great Western Railway on 1 August 1863. It was the successor to the Oxford, Worc ...
(WMR) in 1860. In turn, the WMR amalgamated with the
Great Western Railway (GWR) and the
South Wales Railway
The South Wales Railway ( cy, Rheilffordd De Cymru) was a main line railway which opened in stages from 1850, connecting the Great Western Railway from Gloucester to South Wales. It was constructed on the broad gauge. An original aspiration was to ...
on 1 August 1863.
The opening of the Severn Valley Railway in 1862 had no direct effect on Kidderminster because the line initially had only a south facing connection to , passengers wishing to use the line had to change there. The situation changed in 1878, when a north-facing connection was opened between and Kidderminster, linking Kidderminster directly with the Severn Valley Line.
[John Boynton, ''The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway'', Mid England Books, Kidderminster, 2002, ]
From about 1900, there was a brisk passenger trade of tourists and day trippers from the
West Midlands conurbation
The West Midlands conurbation is the large conurbation that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the towns of Sutton Coldfield, Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Solihull, Stourbridge and Halesowen in the English West Midland ...
.
Due to dwindling passenger numbers, the Severn Valley Line closed to through traffic in 1963. North of Bewdley, the line closed completely in early 1969 when Alveley
colliery
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
was shut down and freight traffic ceased.
Passenger services on the Kidderminster, Bewdley and
Hartlebury
Hartlebury is a village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England which is in Wychavon district centred south of Kidderminster. The civil parish registered a population of 2,549 in the 2001 Census.
The railway station is centred 800 metr ...
section were withdrawn on 3 January 1970.
The halt of traffic to Stourport power station in 1979, and Kidderminster - Foley Park sugar corporation traffic in 1982 saw the end of regular
British Rail services off the
main line
Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to:
Transportation
Railway
* Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system
* Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
.
Station buildings
The earliest station building was replaced by another in 1859. In 1863 the second building was destroyed by fire, and a third station building of a
mock Tudor
Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...
design was built to replace it. This survived until 1968 when it was demolished owing to the effects of
dry rot
Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...
and replaced by
British Rail in 1974 with a small utilitarian brick building.
As passenger numbers grew, this building became inadequate, and funding for a new building was secured in February 2015, with a new £4.3 million design announced in July 2017. Originally due to open in summer 2019, the new glass fronted building, which is twice the size of the previous one, was eventually opened in June 2020.
File:Kidderminster station, 1963 - 3387931.jpg, The 1863 mock Tudor
Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...
station building, demolished in 1968.
File:Kidderminster (Network Rail) Station - geograph.org.uk - 118927.jpg, The 1974 brick station building, in 2006.
The new Kidderminster station building, geograph 6492126 by David Howard.jpg, The new glass-fronted station building, opened 2020.
Services
Most trains using the station are operated by
West Midlands Railway
West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...
as part of the
Snow Hill Lines.
The standard off peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:
*4 tph to
Birmingham Snow Hill and , semi fast, of which 2 continue to
Dorridge
Dorridge is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands (county), England. Historically part of the historic counties of England, historic county of Warwickshire, the village is encompassed within the electoral wa ...
and 2 to
Whitlocks End;
*2 tph to
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
(either
Foregate Street or
Shrub Hill
Worcester Shrub Hill railway station is one of two railway stations serving the city of Worcester in Worcestershire, England. It is managed by West Midlands Trains, operating here under the West Midlands Railway brand, and it is also served by ...
), of which some continue to
Great Malvern
Great Malvern is an area of the spa town of Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, on the eastern flanks of the Worcestershire Beacon and North Hill, and i ...
.
Most
West Midlands Railway
West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...
services are operated by
Class 172 diesel multiple units
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
.
The service between Kidderminster and Birmingham is heavily used, by both commuters and shoppers to Birmingham. The service was increased from three to four trains per hour in 2006.
The other company which operates trains is
Chiltern Railways to London. Their services are:
*4 morning trains to
London Marylebone
Marylebone station ( ) is a Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network it is also known as London Marylebone and is the southern te ...
in the morning peak;
*4 returning from London over the evening peak times
These services also connect Kidderminster to , and .
Future
The area has had upgraded signalling and a new connection to the Severn Valley Railway, enabling passenger trains to access the branch in both directions. Electrification of the route is an aspiration of Network Rail and the local rail user group. A service to/from NR metals to Bewdley has also been proposed over the years. This is finally seeing some more local interest.
Kidderminster SHUTTLE
/ref>
Sources
Further reading
*
*
External links
Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Kidderminster station
{{coord, 52.384, N, 2.239, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title
Buildings and structures in Kidderminster
Railway stations in Worcestershire
DfT Category D stations
Former Great Western Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1852
Railway stations served by Chiltern Railways
Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains
1852 establishments in England