Smethwick Galton Bridge railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Smethwick Galton Bridge
Location
Place	Smethwick
Local authority	Sandwell
Operations
Managed by	London Midland
Platforms in use	4
Annual Rail Passenger Usage
2004/05 *	88,782
2005/06 *	0.102 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	West Midlands
Zone	2
History
1995	Opened
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
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Smethwick Galton Bridge from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

Smethwick Galton Bridge is a railway station in Smethwick, West Midlands, England.

The station is situated where two lines cross at different levels: the line from Birmingham Snow Hill to Stourbridge Junction crosses over the Stour valley line by means of a bridge. There are four platforms, two on each line. London Midland manage the station and operate almost all of its services, with limited services also operated by Chiltern Railways.

The present station opened in 1995 when the line from Birmingham Snow Hill reopened, replacing the nearby Smethwick West station. In 2005/6, 481,000 people changed trains at Smethwick Galton Bridge, 4.7 times the amount that began or ended journeys at the station, making it the busiest station in Smethwick. Without interchanges it is slightly less busy than the more centrally located Smethwick Rolfe Street. ^[1]

[edit] Services

A Virgin Trains Class 390 Pendolino storms through the low level platforms on its way to Birmingham New Street. No Virgin services currently stop at Smethwick Galton Bridge.

The high level platforms are served by London Midland Class 150 trains to Birmingham Snow Hill and Moor Street every 10 minutes off-peak, with a journey time of 10 minutes to Snow Hill. Trains commence from Great Malvern, Worcester Foregate Street or Kidderminster and continue to Dorridge or Shirley. One train per hour operates to Stratford-upon-Avon.^[2] Additionally, 6 Chiltern Railways services from Kidderminster to London Marylebone (and 5 return) stop here in the morning and evening peaks. ^[3]

The low level platforms are served by a half-hourly local service between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton.

There are four other services that call here throughout the day:

• An early morning London Midland Express service, which goes on to serve all stations to Liverpool Lime Street.
• A morning peak London Midland Express service, which starts at Stafford railway station and terminates at Birmingham New Street, calling at all intermediate stations.
• An evening peak London Midland service to Shrewsbury (which interestingly calls at only Galton Bridge, Sandwell and Dudley and Dudley Port before forming a normal Shrewsbury service from Wolverhampton).
• A late-evening Express service to Crewe railway station, again calling at all stations.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Train times and station information for Smethwick Galton Bridge railway station from National Rail
• Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Smethwick Galton Bridge station

Coordinates: 52°30′08″N 1°58′49″W / 52.50222, -1.98028