Hednesford railway station


Hednesford railway station serves the market town of Hednesford in Staffordshire, England. The station forms a part of the Chase Line and is operated by West Midlands Railway.

History

The station was opened in 1859 on the Cannock Mineral Railway's line from to and taken over by the London and North Western Railway a decade later. It closed to passengers on 18 January 1965 and to goods traffic on 6 September the same year as a result of the Beeching Axe, though the line that passed through remained in use for goods & mineral traffic, serving the power station at Rugeley and various local collieries.
The station reopened in 1989 by British Rail, as the terminus of the first stage of the reopening of the Chase Line from Walsall to passenger trains.

Facilities

There is no ticket office, so the Penalty fare scheme operates at the station, and passengers must buy a ticket from the machines at the station to avoid paying the £100 surcharge. Hednesford's ticket machine is card-only, so passengers who only have cash must instead present themselves to the onboard conductor at the earliest opportunity.
The station features a 58-space free car park located on Anglesey Street.
Hednesford is the only station not located in the West Midlands to be part of the West Midlands Trains concessionary travel zone, situated in Zone 5 of the West Midlands railway network. It has been in place since the introduction of the scheme but is the only station to operate this scheme, as similar stations Cannock, Landywood, and Rugeley Town do not operate in the same zone.

Services

Services towards Birmingham International can usually be accessed from platform 1 and services towards Rugeley Trent Valley can usually be accessed from platform 2.
Most services are operated by Class 730 electric trains and journey times are typically 19 minutes to Walsall and 42 minutes to Birmingham New Street.
Some services to/from London Euston used to serve the station. Some services towards Birmingham New Street or Walsall start or terminate here.

Frequency

From Monday-Saturday throughout the daytime, the station typically sees 2 trains-per-hour in both directions. On Sundays this is reduced to just 1 train-per-hour in both directions.

Connections

Connections to,, and stations on the Trent Valley Line are available at Rugeley Trent Valley along with connections to stations along the West Coast Main Line from Birmingham New Street.

History

Some services to/from London Euston used to serve the station. Some services towards Birmingham New Street or Walsall start or terminate here.

Bus Connections

Hednesford no longer has a bus station, although there is an interchange on Victoria Street acting as a hub to locations such as Cannock, Rugeley, Lichfield and Pye Green. All services are run by Chaserider and Select Bus. No buses operate on Sunday.