Rugeley Trent Valley is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

located on the outskirts of

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is situated north of Lichfield, south-east of Stafford, nort ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

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 is one of two stations serving Rugeley, the other being

Rugeley Town Rugeley Town railway station serves the town of Rugeley, Staffordshire, England. The station is operated by West Midlands Railway, with services operated by West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway. The station is situated around ...

. It is on the eastern side of the town close to the Rugeley Trent Valley Trading Estate and located close to the River Trent.

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 ...

operate the station, and all trains serving it. It is a minor station on the

Trent Valley The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

section of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

. It is also the junction with the

Chase Line The Chase Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs from its southern terminus, Birmingham New Street, to Walsall, and then Rugeley in Staffordshire, where it joins the Trent Valley Line. The name of the lin ...

from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

Rugeley Trent Valley railway station 2060892 16747295

History

The main line had opened back in September 1847 and the station along with it. The line from was added by the

Cannock Mineral Railway The Cannock Mineral Railway was a railway company that built a line from Cannock to join the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) at Rugeley, in England. It was conceived and authorised as the Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire Junct ...

in 1859. On 25 May 1998 the Chase Line was extended back into Rugeley Trent Valley from and . Services had previously been withdrawn in January 1965, as a result of the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...

. From the mid-1960s until 1998, it was served only by local stopping trains between

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

and either

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

or (from 1987) – these were withdrawn in 2004 when work began to upgrade the main line to four tracks, with bus replacements operating until

London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Govi ...

introduced the present semi-fast service between

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...

and

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

via Stafford in 2008. The station was the location of Queen Elizabeth II's naming of Class 67 locomotive No. 67029 ''Royal Diamond'', marking her diamond wedding anniversary with

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

, on 12 October 2007.

Layout

Rugeley Trent Valley has three platforms with Platform 3 located at the main entrance and Platforms 1 and 2 located on an

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

. Platform 1 is bi-directional which is used for terminating services from where as Platform 2 is used for northbound services to while Platform 3 is used for southbound services to . Between Platforms 2 and 3 there are two fast lines for non-stop services. All platforms are electrified. Rugeley Trent Valley is unstaffed but does have a ticket machine and a

PERTIS In the ticketing system of the British rail network, a Permit to Travel provisionally allows passengers to travel on a train when they have not purchased a ticket in advance and the ticket office of the station they are travelling from is closed ...

machine at the entrance, as the

Penalty fare A penalty fare, standard fare, or fixed penalty notice is a special, usually higher, fare charged because a passenger using public transport did not comply with the normal ticket purchasing rules. It should not be confused with an unpaid fares n ...

scheme operates here. Intending passengers must buy a ticket or permit to travel before boarding.

Services

Rugeley Trent Valley is managed by

who operate all the train services.

Chase Line

The station is served by trains 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 ...

and London Northwestern Railway on the

from Birmingham New Street. From 2008 to 2019 these ran half-hourly during peak times and hourly during off peak times on weekdays, half-hourly on Saturdays and hourly on Sundays. These services used to be extended to terminate at Stafford, but as of the December 2008 timetable changes these services were all been cut back to terminate at Rugeley Trent Valley. The Chase Line saw a major timetable reorganisation in May 2019, coinciding the completion of electrification. Services run half-hourly throughout the day, and initially alternate trains terminate at Birmingham International and

via Birmingham, Coventry, Northampton and Milton Keynes. The service was simplified by 2021, with all trains to and from Rugeley Trent Valley being West Midlands Railway trains terminating at Birmingham New Street, calling at all stations north of and including

, but only stopping at Tame Bridge Parkway south of there. The frequency remain at 2tph on Mondays to Saturdays, while on Sundays services run hourly.

West Coast Main Line

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 ...

operate an hourly stopping service, southbound to

and northbound to via .GB eNRT 2015–16 Edition, Table 65 Most services on this route run fast between and but some run via and call at Northampton Intercity

Avanti West Coast Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership franchise. During November 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced the Inter ...

services between London Euston and

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

do not call at Rugeley Trent Valley, due to the low passenger numbers compared to other Trent Valley stations. The platforms are also not long enough to accommodate Class 390 Pendolino or Class 221 Tilting Super Voyager Trains which Avanti West Coast operate.

References

External links

{{coord, 52.770, N, 1.930, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Lichfield District Railway stations in Staffordshire DfT Category F1 stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1847 Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains Rugeley 1847 establishments in England Stations on the West Coast Main Line