Coleshill Parkway railway station explained

Coleshill Parkway
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:Coleshill, Warwickshire
Country:England
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:West Midlands Trains
Platforms:2
Code:CEH
Classification:DfT category E
Years:10 February 1842
Events:Opened as Forge Mills
Years1:1 November 1849
Events1:Renamed Forge Mills for Coleshill
Years2:1 April 1904
Events2:Renamed Forge Mills
Years3:9 July 1923
Events3:Renamed Coleshill
Years4:4 March 1968
Events4:Closed[1]
Years5:18 September 2007
Events5:Reopened as Coleshill Parkway
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Zoom:13

Coleshill Parkway is a railway station at Hams Hall on the Birmingham to Peterborough railway line, serving Coleshill in Warwickshire, England. Sitting on the site of the former Coleshill station which closed in 1968, the current station was opened in 2007. Unusually it is not owned by Network Rail.[2] It is managed by West Midlands Trains train operating company (TOC) although all rail services are operated by CrossCountry.

History

First station (1842–1968)

The first station at the site was opened in 1842, by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway on its line from Whitacre Junction to Lawley Street, and was originally known as Forge Mills. A second station nearby had previously been called 'Coleshill' but this was on the Stonebridge Railway; a different line nearby. In 1923 this second station (which had lost its passenger service in 1917) was renamed , and Forge Mills station was renamed Coleshill.[3]

However this second Coleshill station, the former Forge Mills, was closed in March 1968.[4]

Current station

After the closure of the station. Coleshill was left with no railway connection and as a result. The nearest stations to the town were in Water Orton, Atherstone and Marston Green. In 2006, work started on a new station called Coleshill Parkway which was built and opened on the site of the former Coleshill (Forge Mills) station.[5] The new station was originally scheduled to open in Spring 2007, but construction delays postponed the opening to 18 September 2007. The new station cost £9 million to build.[6] It was jointly funded by the Department for Transport, Warwickshire County Council and the John Laing Group, with developer contributions secured by North Warwickshire Borough Council. The opening ceremony was attended by the son of the last stationmaster of the old station.[7]

Facilities

Facilities on site include a 200-space car park and a ticket office. Many signs are in place for local access to the station.

The station incorporates a bus interchange providing direct bus connections to Birmingham city centre on the X13 operated by National Express West Midlands and infrequent journeys on service 76 to Sutton Coldfield and Tamworth which is operated by Diamond Bus. Previously a service to Birmingham Airport was operated but this service (Claribel Coaches 75) was withdrawn in 2022.

Services

Two trains an hour operate in each direction (including Sundays); two eastbound towards and Leicester, with hourly extensions to, Cambridge and Stansted Airport and two westbound to Birmingham New Street.

References

External links

52.517°N -1.708°W

Notes and References

  1. Butt, R.V.J., (1995) The Directory of Railway Stations, Yeovil: Patrick Stephens
  2. Web site: Network Statement 2023 . Network Rail . 29 March 2023 . 22 .
  3. Pixton, B., (2005) Birmingham-Derby: Portrait of a Famous Route, Runpast Publishing
  4. Web site: Quick . Michael . Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain . Railway and Canal Historical Society . 14 February 2023 . 139 . 15 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230315053910/https://rchs.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Railway-Passenger-Stations.pdf . dead .
  5. Web site: Work under way at new £9m station . BBC News . 13 June 2018 . 18 May 2006.
  6. Web site: Transport Minister in Birmingham to hear local views and in Coleshill to open new £9m railway station. Railhub. Railhub. 12 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141220054153/http://www.railhub2.co.uk/rh1/archive/arc_article.php?doc=2007-09-18%20DfT-001. 20 December 2014. dead.
  7. Web site: Railway station officially opens . BBC News . 13 June 2018 . 18 September 2007.