Chester Road railway station


Chester Road railway station serves the areas of Pype Hayes, Erdington and Wylde Green in north-east Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It is sited on the Cross-City Line between / and, via. Pedestrian access to the station is via Green Lanes, near to the junction with the Chester Road. It is above road level, as the line here is on an embankment.

History

The line from to was built by the London and North Western Railway in 1862, although Chester Road station was not opened until 1 December 1863. The LNWR became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1921, as part of the Grouping, which was nationalised to become part of British Railways at the beginning of 1948. The station booking office and waiting room were rebuilt in 1991-1992 during the electrification of the line. The original LNWR station waiting room was dismantled, and moved to, another former LNWR station, on the preserved Battlefield Line Railway.
In 2019, as part of the West Midlands Railway branding of the stations they manage, Chester Road was among the those given orange lampposts and railings. This received a lukewarm response from many locals, the local MP Andrew Mitchell and the leader of Sutton Coldfield Town Council, Simon Ward.

Facilities

Chester Road is a park and ride station; it has a free car park which was expanded to 164 spaces in May 2006. The ticket office is on platform 2, with two ticket machines on site. There is a shelter on both platforms with seating areas.
There are ramps providing step-free access to both platforms at Chester Road. It has been classified as a step-free access category B1 station. This means that there is step-free access to all platforms, but that this may include long or steep ramps.

Services

The station is currently served by West Midlands Trains, with local Transport for West Midlands branded Cross-City services. These are operated using electric multiple units.
Off-peak services at Chester Road follow this general pattern, in trains per hour :
  • 4 tph northbound to, via ; departing from platform 1
  • * 2 tph continue to, via
  • 4 tph southbound to, via and ; departing from platform 2.
  • * 2 tph continue to via, calling at all stations.
  • * 2 tph continue to, calling at all stations except ; 1tph does not call at.
On Sundays, there are 2 tph in each direction between Lichfield Trent Valley and Redditch.
The average journey time to Birmingham New Street is around 16 minutes.