Kings Norton railway station

Kings Norton National Rail

Kings Norton railway station in 2013, only the two outer platforms are in use.
Location
Place Kings Norton
Local authority Birmingham
Coordinates 52°24′47″N 1°56′02″W / 52.413°N 1.934°W / 52.413; -1.934Coordinates: 52°24′47″N 1°56′02″W / 52.413°N 1.934°W / 52.413; -1.934
Grid reference SP046795
Operations
Station code KNN
Managed by London Midland
Number of platforms 2
DfT category D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2011/12 Increase 1.102 million
2012/13 Decrease 1.092 million
2013/14 Increase 1.142 million
2014/15 Increase 1.146 million
2015/16 Increase 1.237 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE Transport for West Midlands
Zone 3
History
1849 Opened
1978 Rebuilt
2006 Original building demolished
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Kings Norton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Kings Norton railway station serves the Kings Norton and Cotteridge areas of Birmingham, England. It lies on Cross-City Line from Redditch through Birmingham New Street to Lichfield. The station's main entrance is located on Pershore Road South, the A441.

History

Kings Norton station in 1967

The current Kings Norton station is the second station to be built in the Kings Norton area. The original Lifford railway station (the first of three stations to bear the Lifford name) was first built on what is now the Camp Hill Line[1] ).

Opening in 1849, Kings Norton was developed as part of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway's line to Curzon Street via the Camp Hill Line. The platforms were extended in length in 1892 with the extension of the Midland Railway's Birmingham West Suburban Railway. This enabled the construction of a large coal and goods yard with sidings for the adjacent Triplex factory. In the mid 1920s, two additional lines and platforms were added - opening to traffic on 14 March 1926. Stations on the Camp Hill Line were closed to Passenger Traffic from January 1941, although passenger trains continued to use the line and stop at Kings Norton Station[2]

The station was rebuilt in 1978 by British Rail and the lines through the station were electrified in 1993.

Today

With the development of both bus and tram services, the need for such a large facility reduced from the 1930s onwards. The result is that today although all four platforms remain in place, only the outer two are in passenger use, with the middle island platforms now derelict.

Refurbished as part of the Cross-City line in 1978, it retained some of its original features following refurbishment, unlike the other 'cross city line' stations. The original station building survived, leased out for commercial purposes, until it was demolished in February 2006 for safety reasons. An extension car park provides a Park and Ride facility.

Kings Norton is served by London Midland services, using Class 323 electric multiple units. London Midland operate the Cross-City line on behalf of Centro.

Kings Norton Station is equipped with real-time information departure boards which were installed in 2006 by Central Trains.

Disabled access

There is step-free access to platform 1 (for trains towards Birmingham New Street) from the ticket office entrance. Step-free access to platform 4 (for trains towards Longbridge) is via the Pershore Road South road bridge and the car park.

Services

Trains call here every 10 minutes in each direction Monday to Saturday daytimes and every 30 minutes on Sundays.[3]

Future

The island platforms at Kings Norton are disused, but could potentially be brought back into service.

Kings Norton Station could see refurbishment of the island platform for passenger use, should the proposal to reopen the Camp Hill Line progress. This could see the introduction of 3 (possibly 4) trains per hour between Kings Norton and Birmingham Moor Street. Only the two outer railway lines at Kings Norton are electrified fully (platform 3 is electrified but as a terminal point only), however the type of cantilever used on the platform means the lines can quite easily be fully electrified should the Camp Hill Line reopen for passenger traffic, though the track layout will need amending.

In the media

Kings Norton Station has been used, along with many other areas of Birmingham, as a location in the BBC daily serial Doctors (for example in an episode first broadcast on 9 November 2011).

References

  1. ↑ "Rail Around Birmingham".
  2. ↑ Mourton, Stephen; Pinxton, Bob (2001). Birmingham - Bristol Portrait of a Famous Midland Route Part One Birmingham to Cheltenham. Runpast. pp. 29, 46. ISBN 1 870754 53 0.
  3. ↑ Table 69 National Rail timetable, May 2016
Preceding station National Rail Following station
London Midland
Disused railways
Terminus   Midland Railway
Camp Hill Line		   Lifford
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