Alrewas railway station was a station on the South Staffordshire Railway, which served the village of Alrewas, Staffordshire. The station was located next to a level crossing, although the main road, now the A513, now crosses the railway line via a bridge.
Alrewas | |
|---|---|
_geograph-3229844-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg) The station's location (1993) | |
| General information | |
| Location | Alrewas, Lichfield England |
| Coordinates | 52°43′49″N 1°44′22″W / 52.7304°N 1.7394°W |
| Grid reference | SK176147 |
| Platforms | 2 |
| Other information | |
| Status | Disused |
| History | |
| Original company | South Staffordshire Railway |
| Pre-grouping | London and North Western Railway |
| Post-grouping | London Midland and Scottish Railway |
| Key dates | |
| 9 April 1849 | Opened |
| 18 January 1965 | Closed |
History
editThe station was opened by the South Staffordshire Railway, which joined the London and North Western Railway and was absorbed by the London Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.
The station closed by the British Railways Board in January 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts.
The site today
editThe line through the station, which runs from Lichfield on the high-level line and is connected to the Southbound West Coast Main Line by a single track chord, runs past the station site to Wychnor Junction, near Burton upon Trent. Primarily a freight route, the line is also used by Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry to move trains from Birmingham New Street to Central Rivers TMD and by a very limited number of timetabled long-distance passenger trains.[1] The route is additionally sometimes used as a means of diverting trains when engineering takes place between Birmingham New Street and Tamworth.
The station retains its signal box, which supervises the adjacent level crossing and the partly single track section to Wychnor Junction. It also acts as a signalling "fringe" box to the East Midlands Rail Operating Centre at Derby.
Reopening proposals
editIn August 2017, calls to reopen the station followed the West Midlands Franchise award. As part of the new franchise, West Midlands Trains has committed to looking at opening new stations. Calls to reopen the station have been mentioned.[2] In a document by Transport for West Midlands it was proposed that the station could potentially reopen to passengers in the future.[3] In October 2018, as part of a 30-year strategy of Transport in the West Midlands, it was proposed that by 2034 Alrewas could reopen to passengers as part of plans to extend the Cross-City line services from Lichfield Trent Valley to Burton-on-Trent twice an hour,[4] as well as the reintroducing services to Walsall via the mothballed South Staffordshire Line.[5]
Calls to reopen the station were renewed in 2020 with access to the nearby National Memorial Arboretum, which opened after the original station was closed.[6] There are also plans for homebuilding on the present site of a quarry which could see the station reopened.[7]
| Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wichnor Junction Line open, station closed |
London and North Western Railway South Staffordshire Line |
Lichfield Trent Valley Line and station open | ||
References
edit- Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
- Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
- Station on navigable O.S. map
Notes
edit- ^ "Passenger Train Services over Unusual Lines 2019" Archived 3 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine Maund, R; Retrieved 12 May 2019
- ^ Calls for a new train station to be built in Alrewas as West Midlands Trains take over Archived 19 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine Pridding, B; Staffordshire Live news article 16 August 2017
- ^ "MOVEMENT FOR GROWTH:2026 Delivery Plan for Transport Archived 24 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine"Transport for the West Midlands" website press release, p.8
- ^ "A New Era for West Midlands Rail Travel. West Midlands Rail Executive. A 30-year Rail Investment Strategy 2018–2047 Consultation Draft, October 2018 Archived 28 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine; West Midlands Rail Executive website article, p.33
- ^ "Movement For Growth: The West Midlands Strategic Transport Plan Summary" (PDF). West Midlands Combined Authority. 1 June 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
- ^ Ross (27 October 2020). "Talks take place over plans to reopen railway line between Lichfield and the National Memorial Arboretum". Lichfield Live. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
- ^ Ross (23 September 2020). "Agreement reached in latest stage of plan to build new 1,500 home community in Alrewas". Lichfield Live. Archived from the original on 17 January 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2020.