Sutton Coldfield railway station is the main

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 prep ...

for the town of Sutton Coldfield,

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. ...

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. It is situated on the

Redditch Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...

Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from , and vi ...

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

Cross-City Line The Cross-City Line is a commuter rail line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for from Redditch and Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, its two southern termini, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via Birmingham New ...

north east of Birmingham New Street. The station is of

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...

with

red brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and elaborate ceilings and pillars. One

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

is sheltered while the other is open air. The main building itself is built on a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...

with a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

running underneath it. It is accessed via Station Street and Railway Road.

History

The station was constructed in 1862, as the northern terminus of the line from

built by the London and North Western Railway. In 1884, the line was extended north to Lichfield, and after the grouping of railway companies in 1923, it came under the control of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. The station was the location of the

Sutton Coldfield train disaster The Sutton Coldfield train crash took place at about 16:13 on 23 January 1955 in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire (now within Birmingham), when an express passenger train traveling from York to Bristol, derailed due to excessive speed on a sharp cu ...

on 23 January 1955 when an express from York to Bristol travelling at excessive speed derailed. A memorial to the 17 people who died was unveiled in the station concourse on 23 January 2016. From 1978, the station became one of those served by the new Cross-City Line, sponsored by the

West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) was the public body responsible for public transport in the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom from 1969 until 2016. The organisation operated under the name Centro f ...

. As part of that scheme, there were proposals to demolish the station and rebuild it, as happened to many of the other stations on the line. However, local campaigning saved it.

2003 repairwork

Following the provision of a large sum of money in 2003, the station underwent a programme of refurbishment. Many new facilities were provided, and repair work was undertaken to the station building. The southbound platform was repainted and a former wooden ticket office removed because it had become a target for

vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term ...

and concerns were raised about its fire safety. A new ticket

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The ...

was placed on the platform which reduced queues at the ticket office in the main building. A station shop and a new waiting room were provided. On the northbound platform, the small waiting room was replaced with new seats.

Passenger information system A passenger information system, or passenger information display system, is an automated system for supplying users of public transport with information about the nature and the state of a public transport service through visual, voice or other m ...

boards were also installed on both platforms which provides passengers with up-to-the-minute information on train times. The interior of the station was also repainted and the ticket office in the main building was extended.

Services

The station is served 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 ...

with local

Transport for West Midlands Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services in the West Midlands metropolitan county in England. It is an executive body of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), with bus franch ...

branded "Cross-City" services, operated by

Class 323 The British Rail Class 323 are electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger trains built by Hunslet Transportation Projects and Holec. All 43 units were built from 1992 through to 1995, although mock-ups and prototypes were built and tested in 1990 ...

electrical multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

s. The station is served by four trains an hour in each direction on weekdays and Saturdays (every 30 minutes on Sundays), with an average journey time to

of around 21 minutes.

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: Sutton Coldfield railway station

BBC Page on the January 1955 accident
{{West Midlands railway stations, open Sutton Coldfield Railway stations in Birmingham, West Midlands DfT Category D stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862 Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains 1862 establishments in England