Lea Hall railway station is situated in the

Lea Hall Lea Hall is an area in the east of Birmingham, England, bordering the Kitts Green and Garretts Green areas. It is the location of Lea Hall railway station, which is served by West Midlands Trains. The local primary school A primary sc ...

area east of the city of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It has two platforms, one each side of the two running lines, with no points or sidings. The ticket office is on a bridge over the tracks, which are a little below street level. The station, and all trains serving it, are 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 ...

. Ramps have been added to permit easy disabled access to both platforms.

History

The station was designed by the architect

William Henry Hamlyn William Henry Hamlyn FRIBA (16 February 1889 – 1968) was an architect based in England noted for his buildings for the London Midland and Scottish Railway. He was born in Wigan in Lancashire. He studied architecture with Reginald Wynn Owen in ...

and opened in 1939. In 1998 the station was re-designed with new sculptures and colour scheme by

Tim Tolkien Tim Tolkien (born October 1962) is an English sculptor who has designed several monumental sculptures, including the award-winning ''Sentinel (sculpture), Sentinel''. He has a metal sculpture and public Art business at Cradley Heath, West Mid ...

, great nephew of writer

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

Facilities

The station has a ticket office located on the bridge over the tracks which is open Monday-Thursday 06:15-18:00, Friday 06:00-19:00, Saturday 07:00-19:00 and Sunday 10:00-13:00. When the ticket office is open tickets must be purchased before boarding the train. Outside of these times there is a ticket machine above platform 1 which accepts card payments only - cash and voucher payments can be made to the senior conductor on the train. There is a free car park for rail users on Lea Hall Road. Step free access is available between the platforms via the ramp.

Services

Lea Hall is served by two trains per hour, to northbound of which one train extends to and to southbound. A limited service operates beyond towards and mainly at peak times and the start/end of service. On Sundays, there is an hourly service northbound to and southbound to with most services extending to and .GB eNRT 2015-16 Edition, Table 68 (Network Rail) All services are operated by

. Most services operate under the

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 ...

brand but some services (those which start/terminate at or ) operate under the

London Northwestern 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 ...

brand.

References

*''An Historical Survey Of Selected LMS Stations Vol. One'' Dr R Preston and R Powell Hendry. Oxford Pub. Co. (1982, Reprinted in 2001)

External links

Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Lea Hall railway station
Railway stations in Birmingham, West Midlands DfT Category E stations Former London, Midland and Scottish Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1939 Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains William Henry Hamlyn buildings {{WestMidlands-railstation-stub