Perry Barr Railway Station is a railway station in Perry Barr, Birmingham, England, and is one of the oldest continuously operated railway station sites in the world, having first opened in 1837. The station has been rebuilt several times, including electrification of the line in the 1960s, and most recently in 2021-2022.
History
The original station was built by the Grand Junction Railway in 1837, and so the station is the oldest one on its original site in the city, and one of the oldest continuously operated station sites in the world.[1] The Grand Junction became part of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), thence the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), and each owned the station in turn. Together with the rest of Britain's railways it was nationalised in 1948.
1960s redevelopment
The 1960s station entrance in 2009
The station was rebuilt when the line was electrified in 1966 as part of the London Midland Region's electrification programme.[2] The actual energization of the line from Coventry to Walsall through Aston took place on 15 August 1966.[3]
2020s redevelopment
The part-complete new station building, 8 November 2021
In 2019, the West Midlands Rail Executive and Transport for West Midlands put forward proposals to redevelop Perry Barr station, along with a new bus interchange, in time for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.[4] Proposed designs were revealed in September 2020.[5] Further revisions were proposed in December.[6] The designs were approved and the station was closed on 10 May 2021 for redevelopment, with the station reopened on 29 May 2022.[7][8][9] The new building has a bronze-coloured frieze depicting athletes.[10]
Features
The pedestrian entrance is on the A34 Walsall Road. The station has two side platforms, one each side of the two operating lines, with no points or sidings. The ticket office is on a bridge over the tracks, which are below street level. Both platforms have step-free access, lifts replacing the former ramps. It is staffed on a part-time basis throughout the week, and has a self-service ticket and Permit to Travel machine for use when the ticket office is closed. Waiting shelters and bench seating are provided at platform level, along with customer help points. Service information is given on information displays and by automated announcements.[11]
As well as local residents, shops and businesses, it serves:
a number of bus services, including the Outer Circle
Services
The typical daytime service on weekdays and Saturdays has two trains per hour in each direction between Walsall and Birmingham New Street (and onwards to Wolverhampton via the Stour Valley Line) that are operated by Class 350EMUs. Services are reduced to hourly on Sundays. There are a small number of services that extend past Walsall to Rugeley Trent Valley. On Mondays to Saturdays one early morning train starts from Rugeley Trent Valley.[12][13][14]
The line also sees occasional use for diverted passenger trains between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton (and destinations further north), usually when the Stour Valley Line is closed for engineering work.
Incidents
On 22 December 1859 one passenger jumped from a Walsall to Birmingham train and was killed, and others were injured, due to the train, using South Staffordshire Railway rolling stock, being derailed by one of its carriages shedding a tyre.[15]
On 22 December 1895, Mark Robins, a LNWR guard, was killed while his goods train was waiting in a siding at the station for a faster football excursion train from Liverpool to Birmingham to pass. Due to fog, he did not see the approaching train, and was struck by it.[16][17]
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