Aston | |
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Aston station | |
Location | |
Place | Aston |
Local authority | Birmingham |
Grid reference | SP087896 |
Operations | |
Station code | AST |
Managed by | London Midland |
Number of platforms | 2 |
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries |
|
Annual rail passenger usage | |
2004/05 * | 0.162 million |
2005/06 * | 0.163 million |
2006/07 * | 0.168 million |
2007/08 * | 0.206 million |
2008/09 * | 0.341 million |
2009/10 * | 0.345 million |
Passenger Transport Executive | |
PTE | West Midlands |
Zone | 2 |
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 estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Aston from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year. | |
Aston railway station serves the districts of Aston and Nechells in Birmingham, England. The passenger entrance is on Lichfield Road.
The station is situated adjacent to and above the Lichfield Road (A5127), crossed by a bridge as the railway line, part of the original Grand Junction Railway, opened in 1837, is on an embankment. The line also crosses the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, just south of Lichfield Road, on a bridge which is all that remains of a longer viaduct of ten arches, described as "one of the most beautiful structures on the line of the Grand Junction".[1][2]
The section of the viaduct crossing Lichfield Road, immediately south of the station, was replaced by a steel bridge in 1906.[3]
Contents |
The route of the Grand Junction Railway, sweeping in a wide arc from Perry Barr through Aston to its terminus at Vauxhall, was dictated by the refusal of James Watt junior, the tenant of Aston Hall and son of the renowned engineer, to allow the railway to encroach upon Aston Park in the grounds of the Hall as planned in the Grand Junction's Act of 1833. The line was originally intended to enter Birmingham through a mile-long tunnel under the high ground on which the park is situated.[4][5] In clause IV of a second Act of 1834, the Grand Junction was forbidden from
In 1846, the Grand Junction was one of several railways which were merged and incorporated into the London and North Western Railway (LNWR).[7] Aston was opened by the LNWR in 1854[8] and became a junction in 1862 when a line was opened to Sutton Coldfield by the same railway.[9][10]
In 1880 the LNWR opened a line from Aston to Stechford on the Birmingham to Coventry line which also gave access to the Metropolitan Carriage and Wagon Company's works (later Metro-Cammell) at Saltley, reached by a short branch from what the LNWR termed Washwood Heath Junction at the point where the Aston-Stechford line passed over the Midland Railway from Birmingham to Derby.[11][12] The new line was also used for the Wolverhampton portions of some London expresses and also to provide through carriages between Euston and Walsall.[13]
In the same year, the LNWR opened a line for freight traffic from Aston to Windsor Street goods depot.[14] The latter line closed in 1980.[15] The LNWR's Aston locomotive depot ("Aston Shed") was opened in 1883 in the area between the Aston to Birmingham and the Aston to Stechford lines and with an entrance on Long Acre, Nechells. It was closed in 1965, by then under British Railways ownership.[16]
The station became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923. It then passed to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.
When Sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by Regional Railways on behalf of the West Midlands PTE, for whom British Rail had been running the trains since the PTE's inception.
In 2011, London Midland, the current operators of the station, proposed a major reduction in the opening hours of the ticket office, with complete closure at weekends.[17]
Apart from the Sutton Coldfield branch, all of the routes passing through Aston were electrified in 1966 as part of the London Midland Region's electrification programme.[18] The actual energization of the line from Coventry to Walsall through Aston took place on 15 August 1966.[19]
In preparation for electrification, Aston's two mechanical signal boxes, Aston No. 1 and No. 2,[20] were closed, semaphore signalling was replaced by multiple-aspect colour light signals and control transferred to the power signal box at Birmingham New Street.[21]
Electrification of the line to Sutton and Lichfield was completed in 1992 as part of the modernisation of the Cross-City Line.[22]
In January 1858 there were eight trains from Aston (originating in Birmingham) to Wolverhampton via Bescot Junction and Willenhall, the first at 08:21 and the last at 21:11 on weekdays. In the opposite direction, on weekdays, nine trains from Wolverhampton arrived at Aston between 08:51 and 22:25. The Sunday service consisted of six trains in each direction. The timetable shows one "government" or Parliamentary train in each direction, running every day. Most trains provided through carriages to Derby via Walsall and Lichfield, dividing at Bescot.[23]
In the LNWR timetable dated October 3 1921, the service to and from Lichfield City (the extension from Sutton Coldfield to Lichfield was opened in 1884)[24] is shown as roughly hourly on weekdays, with additional trains terminating at Four Oaks approximately every 30 minutes. On Sundays five trains ran to and from Sutton. Trains to Wolverhampton and Walsall ran at irregular intervals on weekdays, with service of five trains to and from Walsall on Sundays. An interesting service was the New Street to New Street "circular" via Aston, Perry Barr, Soho Road and Monument Lane, with two trains completing the full anti-clockwise circuit, but only one in the opposite direction. Most clockwise trains finished their journey at Vauxhall and Duddeston. There was no Sunday service.[25]
The London Midland Region timetable dated 10 September 1951 shows an irregular interval service of approximately hourly trains to and from Walsall and a similar service to Lichfield City via Sutton, with some trains running only as far as Four Oaks (tables 68 and 69). In the Summer 1963 timetable, by which time diesel multiple units were operating on both routes,[26] there was a regular-interval service pattern throughout the day: on weekdays every hour to Walsall and Rugeley Town, and every 30 minutes to Sutton and Lichfield, with occasional trains still terminating at Four Oaks.
After electrification, services to Walsall were operated by Class AM4 (later re-designated British Rail Class 304) electric multiple units. The 1970-1971 London Midland timetable (Table 9) shows a weekdays only service of regular-interval hourly trains throughout the day, augmented at peak periods with additional services. There was also one service, originating at Walsall, which left Aston at 0717 for Coventry via Stechford. (There was no corresponding service in the Walsall direction). The Sutton and Lichfield service was largely unchanged from 1963 on weekdays but there was now no Sunday service.
The above patterns applied also to trains to and from Birmingham New Street, where all trains from Aston to Walsall and Four Oaks or Lichfield originated.
Following the introduction of the Cross-City Line in 1978, Aston gained through trains to and from Longbridge via Birmingham New Street. The basic pattern was Lichfield to Longbridge and vice versa hourly throughout the day Monday-Saturday, with additional trains running from Four Oaks to Longbridge and vice versa at 15 minute intervals. The were also additional trains to and from Redditch at peak times. On Sundays, Aston was served by a 30-minute frequency of trains to and from Four Oaks and Longbridge. Trains were operated by British Rail Class 108 diesel multiple units. The Walsall service remained basically unchanged from 1970–1971, with no Sunday service.[27]
Aston receives regular services on both the Cross-City Line, from Lichfield Trent Valley to Redditch and the Walsall Line, from Wolverhampton to Walsall via Birmingham New Street. In the evenings, services for the Chase Line call Aston.
Six services operate on the Cross-City Line in each direction every hour which call Aston. Services to Birmingham New Street terminate at either Longbridge or Redditch, with four services an hour to the former and two to the latter. Northwards, there are three destinations on the Cross-City Line served by trains from Aston. Two of the six services run the full length of the line to terminate at Lichfield Trent Valley, two go to Lichfield City and the other two only venture as far as Four Oaks.
The Walsall line is served by fewer trains: there are two in each direction every hour, both of which call all stations between Wolverhampton and Walsall via Birmingham New Street.
Passenger services are operated by London Midland using either Class 323 electrical multiple units on the Cross-City Line and the Walsall Line, and Class 170 diesel multiple units on the Chase Line to Rugeley.
Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
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London Midland | ||||
London Midland |
Buses 65, 67 and 115 operated by National Express West Midlands pass the station.
The station serves: