University (Birmingham) railway station

University
View south, from the northbound platform.
Location
Place	Edgbaston
Local authority	Birmingham
Coordinates	52°27′04″N 1°56′10″W / 52.451°N 1.936°W / 52.451; -1.936Coordinates: 52°27′04″N 1°56′10″W / 52.451°N 1.936°W / 52.451; -1.936
Grid reference	SP043837
Operations
Station code	UNI
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	2.595 million
2012/13	2.636 million
2013/14	2.845 million
2014/15	2.977 million
2015/16	3.206 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Transport for West Midlands
Zone	2
History
Original company	British Rail
1978	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at University from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

University railway station is a railway station serving the University of Birmingham, Birmingham Women's Hospital, and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the West Midlands of England. It is situated on the Cross-City Line which runs from Redditch to Lichfield via Birmingham New Street. Most services are operated by London Midland who manage the station, with some services also operated by CrossCountry.

History

Located on the former Birmingham West Suburban Railway, University station was built in 1977/8 as part of the upgrade of the Cross City line.^[1] The station was opened by William Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Transport, on 8 May 1978. Although this was the first station on the site, it is located a short distance away from the former Somerset Road Station which was closed in the 1930s. The Cross-City Line was electrified in 1993 and the current Class 323 electric multiple units were introduced by British Rail on local services.

In 2017 it was announced that University railway station would receive up to £10 million as an improvement fund to enhance passenger experience and reduce overcrowding as part of the Government's Midlands Engine Strategy.^[2]

Facilities

Pedestrian access is via University Road West, close to the Medical School and bus interchange - around 330 yards (300 m) uphill from University Square. Due to the station's campus location on a service road there is no car parking, although nearby Selly Oak station is a designated Park and Ride station.^[3] The station is also situated alongside the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, a popular cycling and jogging route. Access is at street level as there is a fence between Platform 2 and the towpath.

The station is the only main line railway station in Great Britain built specifically to serve a university. There is a covered waiting room on Platform 2. There are also two automated ticket machines on the concourse and two windowed ticket booths, staffed all day Monday to Saturday and from 9:20 on Sundays. There is lift access down to both platforms from the entrance.^[4] Fare control is enforced by a line of automatic ticket barriers installed in April 2009, as at Five Ways.

Services

The station is served by London Midland with local Cross-City Line services operated by 3- or 6-car Class 323 electrical multiple units. London Midland's longer-distance services to Hereford and CrossCountry services to Cardiff and Nottingham are operated by air-conditioned Turbostar diesel multiple units.

University station is the sixth busiest station in the Network West Midlands region in terms of passenger numbers, and the busiest without a direct link to London. Just over two million tickets were sold to and from the station in the year 2009-10.^[5]

Typical off-peak weekday service is as follows, in trains per hour (tph):^[6][7]

Platform 1 (Northbound)

All services from Platform 1 stop at Birmingham New Street with an average journey time of 8 minutes.

• 2tph to Four Oaks, calling at all stations operated by London Midland.
• 2tph to Lichfield City, calling at all stations, except Shenstone and Duddeston operated by London Midland.
• 2tph to Lichfield Trent Valley, calling at all stations, except Duddeston operated by London Midland.
• 1tph to Birmingham New Street only, operated by London Midland.
• 1tph to Nottingham, operated by CrossCountry.

Platform 2 (Southbound)

• 3tph to Longbridge, calling at all stations, operated by London Midland.
• 3tph to Redditch, calling at all stations, operated by London Midland.
• 1tph to Hereford, calling at Bromsgrove, Droitwich Spa, Worcester Foregate Street and then all stations to Hereford, operated by London Midland. A small number of these services also stop at Barnt Green^[8]
• 1tph to Cardiff Central, calling at Cheltenham Spa, Gloucester, Newport and Cardiff Central, operated by CrossCountry. Sometimes these trains also call at Bromsgrove and Ashchurch for Tewkesbury.^[9]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Five Ways		London Midland Cross-City Line		Selly Oak
Birmingham New Street		London Midland Birmingham-Hereford		Bromsgrove or Droitwich Spa or Barnt Green
Birmingham New Street		CrossCountry Cardiff - Nottingham		Bromsgrove

Disabled access

There is level access from the street to the ticket office and footbridge. Lifts provide access to both platforms from the footbridge. The station has a wide ticket gate which wheelchair users can use unaided.

References

External links

• Train times and station information for University (Birmingham) railway station from National Rail

Wikimedia Commons has media related to University (Birmingham) railway station.

• Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: University railway station