| Shrewsbury | |
|---|---|
| Shrewsbury | |
| Location | |
| Place | Shrewsbury |
| Local authority | Shropshire Council |
| Operations | |
| Station code | SHR |
| Managed by | Arriva Trains Wales |
| Number of platforms | 5 (numbered 3-7) |
| Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries |
|
| Annual rail passenger usage | |
| 2004/05 * | 1.295 million |
| 2005/06 * | 1.317 million |
| 2006/07 * | 1.343 million |
| 2007/08 * | 1.461 million |
| 2008/09 * | 1.596 million |
| 2009/10 * | 1.630 million |
| History | |
| 1848 | 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 estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Shrewsbury from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year. | |
Shrewsbury railway station (formerly known as Shrewsbury General) is the railway station serving Shrewsbury, county town of Shropshire, England. It is the only remaining railway station in the town; Shrewsbury Abbey, as well as other small stations around the town, having long closed. The station was built in 1848 and has been extended several times since. It was designated as a grade II listed building in 1969.
The station is 69 km (43 mi) north west of Birmingham New Street and serves as the rail 'Gateway to Wales' with many services starting at or passing through the station bound for places in Wales. Shrewsbury is the busiest station in Shropshire and tenth busiest in the West Midlands region (by 2009/10 usage figures).[1]
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Shrewsbury railway station was originally built in October 1848 for the county's first railway — the Shrewsbury to Chester Line. The architect was Thomas Mainwaring Penson of Oswestry.[2] The building is unusual, in that the station was extended between 1899 and 1903 by the construction of a new floor underneath the original station building.[2] The building style was imitation Tudor, complete with carvings of Tudor style heads around the window frames. This was done to match the Tudor building of Shrewsbury School (now Shrewsbury Library) almost directly opposite. The station's platforms also extend over the River Severn. It was operated jointly by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London and North Western Railway (LNWR).[3]
At Shrewsbury in steam days, the GWR regularly turned its locomotives by running round the triangle formed by using the Abbey Foregate loop, which links the Wolverhampton Line with the Welsh Marches Line and enables through running for freight trains, summer Saturday specials and formerly for trains like the Cambrian Coast Express. Until 1967 Shrewsbury was served by the GWR, latterly BR Western Region, express services between London Paddington and Birkenhead Woodside which was withdrawn upon the electrification of the West Coast Main Line.
The station was given Grade II listed status in May 1969;[2] this applies to the main building on Castle Foregate, adjacent to platform 3.
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As of 2011[update], the station is operated by Arriva Trains Wales as one of their key network hubs. There are five platforms in use, numbered 3 to 7 (platforms 1 and 2 have no track), of which platforms 4, 5, 6 and 7 are grouped on a main island, while platforms 1, 2 and 3 are separate, located by the main station building.
Platform 3 is at present used occasionally only by trains running in from the Wolverhampton direction and out towards Chester. Changes recently made to the signalling and track now allow additional passenger trains (those coming in from and going out to the Hereford, Heart of Wales and Cambrian lines) to use platform 3. The upcoming timetable (for May—December 2011) has trains travelling from the Hereford direction towards Chester using the platform, as well as one Heart of Wales train departing (towards Hereford) on Sundays.[4] A passenger lift was opened on the platform in 2009 and a waiting room opened shortly after.
Platforms 4 and 7 are through platforms, usually used for trains between Holyhead (via Chester) and Cardiff Central/Birmingham International and between Manchester Piccadilly (via Crewe) and Cardiff, Carmarthen, and Milford Haven. Platforms 5 and 6 are bay platforms, used mainly for trains to and from Aberystwyth and Birmingham, as well as trains for the Heart of Wales Line.
The island platforms are connected to the main station building and platform 3 by a pedestrian subway running underneath the station. A pedestrian footbridge over the platforms still exists but has long been disconnected from the station; instead, it is a public walkway allowing pedestrians to cross over the station area, and part of a route named "The Dana".
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Legend
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| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | Arriva Trains Wales Shrewsbury to Wrexham General Line |
Gobowen | ||
| Church Stretton | Arriva Trains Wales Welsh Marches Line |
Yorton/Wrexham General | ||
| Arriva Trains Wales South-North Wales |
Gobowen | |||
| Arriva Trains Wales Heart of Wales Line |
Terminus | |||
| Newport | Arriva Trains Wales North-South "Premier" service |
Crewe/Wrexham General | ||
| Wellington | Arriva Trains Wales Cambrian Line |
Welshpool | ||
| Arriva Trains Wales Chester to Birmingham |
Gobowen | |||
| Wellington | London Midland Wolverhampton-Shrewsbury Mondays-Saturdays only |
Terminus | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Terminus | Great Western Railway Shrewsbury to Chester Line |
Leaton Line open, station closed |
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| Terminus | Great Western Railway Severn Valley Railway |
Berrington | ||
| Terminus | Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway | Hanwood Line open, station closed |
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Severn Bridge Junction signal box, at the south end of the station and built by the LNWR, is the largest surviving mechanical signal box in the World, with a frame accommodating 180 levers, and is a listed building. Whilst the line beyond Abbey Foregate signal box to Wolverhampton has been updated to electronic signalling, Shrewsbury itself is set to remain lever operated for the foreseeable future.[5] As a result of Shrewsbury's joint (GWR/LNWR) history, and having been transferred at different times between the Western and London Midland regions of BR and more recently Network Rail - it is now in the Great Western territory again - the signalling is a diverse mixture of lower-quadrant and upper-quadrant semaphore signals, with a few colour lights too. Crewe Junction, on the north end of the station, accommodates around 120 levers and is of the same design as Severn Bridge Junction.
The other Shrewsbury signal boxes are at Abbey Foregate (to a GWR design), controlling the eastern corner of the triangle, Sutton Bridge Junction where the Aberystwyth line diverges from the Hereford line, Crewe Bank (was to have been closed in April 2009,[6] but now due to close in 2012) just beyond the station towards Crewe, and Harlescott Crossing, slightly further on towards Crewe.
In Autumn 2010 changes were made to allow Cambrian and Welsh Marches line trains to depart in a southerly direction from Platform 3 — an upper quadrant signal replaced the previous shunting disc and a facing point lock was added to the points. Though the track layout could already accommodate this, until the lock was added only non-passenger movements southbound from Platform 3 could be made.[7]
According to the Office of Rail Regulation statistics for the 2009/10 financial year, the total number of entries and exits at the station was 1,630,474 (based on tickets sold at Shrewsbury, and tickets sold to Shrewsbury); with 163,854 passengers interchanging between services.[8]
It has been proposed that Shrewsbury should have a Parkway railway station built on the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line, east of the town in the Preston Boats/Emstrey area, adjacent to the A5 road. This new station would be co-located with a fourth bus-based Park & Ride site for the town[9] to simultaneously serve shoppers and commuters heading both to and from Telford and the West Midlands conurbation. Reasons cited for this project include the poor provision of car parking at Shrewsbury's current only railway station and the lack of a park and ride site to serve visitors to the town from the east, who presently need to use Meole Brace in the south or Harlescott in the north of the town. Another proposed station is at Harlescott in the north of the town — a recent masterplan drawn up for the area includes the potential provision of a halt near to Harlescott Crossing.
As well as the poor provision of car parking previously mentioned, the town's geographic location in a tight meander of the River Severn, combined with the one-way systems for motor traffic in the town (particularly the need to go under the low and congested Cross Street arch bridge), make the station difficult and time-consuming to reach by car from many parts of the town. Indeed from many locations in southern Shrewsbury, e.g. Shrewsbury Business Park, Shrewsbury College on London Road and the Sutton Farm area, it often actually takes less time to drive to Telford Central railway station, along the fast A5 and M54, than to Shrewsbury station.
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