Birmingham New Street Station

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For the street in Birmingham named New Street, see New Street, Birmingham.

Birmingham New Street
Location
Place	New Street, Birmingham
Local authority	City of Birmingham
Operations
Managed by	Network Rail
Platforms in use	12
Annual entry/exit 04/05	16.243 million **
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	West Midlands
Zone	1
History
1854 1964 1964 1967	First opened Queen's Hotel closed and demolished Power signal box built Rebuilt
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
** based on sales of tickets in 2004/05 financial year which end or originate at Birmingham New Street. Disclaimer (PDF)

The tracks at the eastern end of Birmingham New Street station

Class 390 no. 390029 "City of Stoke-on-Trent" at Birmingham New Street on 24th September 2003 with a service to Wolverhampton. These units now work all of The Virgin West Coast services.

Birmingham New Street is a major railway station located in the centre of the city of Birmingham, England. It lies on the Birmingham branch of the West Coast Main Line.

New Street is Birmingham's main railway station, and is a major hub of the British railway system. Due to its central location, railway lines from all over Great Britain run into it including lines to London, Manchester, Scotland, Wales, Bristol, Penzance, Nottingham, Leicester, Shrewsbury and Newcastle.

The station is also a terminus for many local services from throughout the West Midlands conurbation, including the local Cross City railway line, serving Lichfield, Redditch and stations in between. Direct trains run to more stations from New Street than from any other station on the British railway network.

Over 35 million people pass through New Street station every year, making it the busiest major station in the United Kingdom outside London^[1]. It is one of 17 British railway stations managed by Network Rail.

[edit] History

New Street station was constructed as a joint station by the London and North Western Railway and the Midland Railway between 1846 and 1854 to replace several earlier unconnected rail termini, the most notable being Curzon Street. It was formally opened on June 1, 1854 however it had been in use for two years before this. The Queen's Hotel was opened in the same year and its telegraphic address became "Besthotel Birmingham".

The station was constructed by Messrs. Fox, Henderson & Co.. When completed it had the largest iron and glass roof in the world, spanning a length of 212 feet. By the end of 19th century, it had become one of the busiest railway stations in the country.

Because it was constructed by two companies, the original New Street Station was effectively two stations built side-by-side. Each company had one half, with a road, Queen's Drive, between them. This led to an inconvenient track layout which restricted capacity. In 1923, the two companies, with others, were grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS).

The station was completely re-built by the nationalised British Railways in the mid 1960s, when the West Coast Main Line was modernised and electrified. Queen's Drive was lost in the rebuilding, but the name is now carried by a new driveway which serves the car park and a tower block, and is the access route for the station's taxis. The rebuilt station has the Pallasades Shopping Centre and an NCP car park above it. The station and the Pallasades are now somewhat integrated with the Bullring complex, connected by indoor walkways and escalators. Next to the car park Stephenson Tower, a residential tower block was constructed. The Brutalist 1960s corrugated concrete architecture of New Street Signal Box is located to the side of the tracks connected to Navigation Street. It is now a Grade II listed building [1]. An innovative automated public address system, voiced by professional voice artist Phil Sayer has also been introduced, announcing departing trains and other information over loudspeakers around the station.

In 1995, New Street Station caught fire^{[citation needed]} - apparently due to a discarded cigarette end and became the subject of an avant-garde pop record by Samplesonic.

[edit] Criticism

The station is frequently derided as one of the most run down and unwelcoming of all the major terminals on the British railway network. Although much of this can be blamed on the sub-surface nature of the station, the bleak 1960's architecture, and that it is built below the decaying Pallasades shopping arcade also contributes to New Street's poor ambience. In November 2003 the station was voted the second biggest "eyesore" in the UK by readers of Country Life magazine.^[2] The station has a reputation for platform changes being made in the minutes before trains are due to depart, resulting in travellers having to run from one end of the station to the other.

A feasibility study worth £3.9m into the redevelopment of Birmingham New Street Station, known as the Birmingham Gateway Project, was approved on 21 January 2005. A development scheme is anticipated to begin in 2006. ^[3]

Birmingham New Street Signal Box

[edit] See also

• Birmingham Snow Hill station
• Birmingham International railway station
• Birmingham Moor Street railway station
• Transport in Birmingham
• West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive

[edit] Bibliography

New Street Station in 1885.

• Birmingham New Street. The Story of a Great Station Including Curzon Street. 1 Background and Beginnings. The Years up to 1860. By Richard Foster. Wild Swan Publications Limited (1990) ISBN 0-906867-78-9
• Birmingham New Street. The Story of a Great Station Including Curzon Street. 2 Expansion and Improvement. 1860 to 1923. By Richard Foster. Wild Swan Publications Limited (1990) ISBN 0-906867-79-7
• Birmingham New Street. The Story of a Great Station Including Curzon Street. 3 LMS Days. 1923-1947 By Richard Foster. Wild Swan Publications Limited (1997) ISBN 1-874103-37-2
• Birmingham New Street. The Story of a Great Station Including Curzon Street 4 British Railways. The First 15 Years. By Richard Foster. Wild Swan Publications Limited (Publication awaited).
• A History of Birmingham, Chris Upton, 1997, ISBN 0-85033-870-0.

[edit] References

1. ^ Managed Stations Footfall. Network Rail (2004/05). Retrieved on 2006-05-27.
2. ^ Windfarms top list of UK eyesores, BBC News Online, 13 November 2003, retrieved 29 November 2006
3. ^ Rail Air Rights Towers Planned For Birmingham. Skyscrapernews.com (2006). Retrieved on 2006-07-26.

[edit] Services

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Birmingham New Street railway station

• Station information on Birmingham New Street Station from Network Rail
• Birmingham Gateway Project
• Train times and station information for Birmingham New Street Station from National Rail
• Street map and aerial photo of Birmingham New Street Station from Multimap.com

• Warwickshire's Railways the history of the county's railways from 1838 to 1968
• 1890 Ordnance Survey map of the station