Smethwick Rolfe Street is one of two railway stations serving the town of Smethwick, West Midlands,

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 situated on the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line 3¼ miles (5 km) north west of

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 ...

. The station, and all trains serving it, 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 ...

. The other station serving Smethwick is , which is the next stop up the line.

History

The station was opened in July 1852 by the Birmingham, Wolverhampton, & Stour Valley Railway Company (later absorbed by London and North Western Railway) as part of the

Stour Valley Line The Stour Valley Line is the present-day name given to the railway line between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, in England. It was authorised as the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway in 1836; the title was often shortened to the ...

from Birmingham to Wolverhampton. It was rebuilt in its present form in 1890 when two level crossings in the centre of Smethwick were abolished. Drawings of the rebuilt station can be found on th
Smethwick Rolfe Street Station gallery
page of the Network Rail Corporate Archive. In 1985, pupils from Parkside Junior School created a mural for Platform 1 under the direction of artist Jeremy Waygood as part of the Birmingham to Wolverhampton Corridor Initiative. In June 2017, this mural was removed and replaced by one created by students from

Sandwell College Sandwell College is the only College of Further Education in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It predominantly serves Sandwell, West Birmingham and adjacent areas of Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton. Following seven years of growth in student ...

under the direction of artist Steve Field. In addition, an exhibition room was created by another set of students from the college to display the history of the station and of the murals. In October 2017 this work was recognised in the ACoRP Community Rail Awards with a 1st place for Involving Diverse Groups and a 3rd place for Community Art Schemes - Permanent. Work began in January 2022 to install lifts to allow step-free access to the station. The project is expected to be completed by July.

Services

The station is served by two trains per hour in each direction Mondays to Saturdays, by the local service between , and via .GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Table 68 (Network Rail) On Sundays, the service runs hourly between New Street and Wolverhampton only. These are usually operated by a mixture of

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 ...

and Class 350s EMUs but occasional Class 170 DMUs are used.

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 ...

, CrossCountry,

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 ...

and

Transport for Wales Rail Transport for Wales Rail Limited, branded as Transport for Wales and TfW Rail ( and ), is a Welsh publicly owned train operating company, a subsidiary of Transport for Wales (TfW), a Welsh Government-owned company. It commenced operations of t ...

trains run through the station but do not stop. London Northwestern Railway does call at the nearby station of Smethwick Galton Bridge en route to

Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a terminus railway station and the main station serving the city centre of Liverpool. Opened in August 1836, it is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world. A branch of the West Coast ...

References

External links

Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Smethwick Rolfe Street station
Railway stations in Sandwell DfT Category E stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1852 Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains Smethwick 1852 establishments in England {{WestMidlands-railstation-stub