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Cradley Heath railway station

Coordinates: 52°28′12″N 2°05′24″W / 52.470°N 2.090°W / 52.470; -2.090
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Cradley Heath
National Rail
General information
LocationCradley Heath, Sandwell
England
Grid referenceSO939857
Managed byWest Midlands Trains
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeCRA
ClassificationDfT category E
History
Opened1863
Passengers
2018/19Increase 0.881 million
2019/20Decrease 0.872 million
2020/21Decrease 0.178 million
2021/22Increase 0.468 million
2022/23Increase 0.539 million
Location
Map
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Cradley Heath railway station serves the town of Cradley Heath in the West Midlands of England. It is on the Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster line. The station is managed by West Midlands Railway, who provide the majority of train services; there are also occasional services provided by Chiltern Railways.

Cradley Heath bus station is right in front of the railway station; together they form Cradley Heath Interchange.

History

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The station was opened in 1863 by the Stourbridge Railway, on their line from Stourbridge Junction to Old Hill. This was later taken over by the Great Western Railway, who incorporated it into their line to Birmingham. Historically, the station was known as Cradley, and later as Cradley Heath and Cradley.

The present station buildings date from the mid-1980s when the station was rebuilt entirely on the west side of the level crossing. Previously there had been a staggered platform arrangement on either side of the crossing.

Incidents

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Following an incident on 7 October 1954, lamp-man Anthony Rivers was awarded the George Medal and the Order of Industrial Heroism. Rivers had gone to assist a woman whose foot was caught in a level crossing between the station's platforms. As a train bore down on them, he realised he could not free her, so held her away from the tracks and the train severed her foot. In doing so, he suffered a fractured pelvis and a broken forearm.[1][2][3]

Services

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West Midlands Railway:

The Monday to Saturday off-peak service sees trains approximately every 15 minutes in each direction, operated by West Midlands Trains.[4][5]

Eastbound:

Westbound:

Chiltern Railways also serve the station with one train to Stourbridge Junction at weekday nighttime only, from London Marylebone. A morning service to Marylebone runs on Sunday mornings only.[6]

Regular direct services to and from Birmingham New Street (the terminus for all eastbound trains between 1967 and the reopening of the line to Snow Hill in 1995) ceased in May 2004 and passengers wishing to travel there must now change at Galton Bridge.[7]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
West Midlands Railway
West Midlands Railway
Chiltern Railways

Bus interchange

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Alongside the railway station there is a bus station with five bus stands, which opened during the 1980s. The bus station was extensively rebuilt from 2014 to 2015,[8] and reopened in July 2015 as Cradley Heath Interchange. The bus station is owned and operated by Transport for West Midlands[9] which charges operators for their usage. Services are operated by National Express West Midlands and Diamond Bus. The former Midland Red bus depot stands across the road from the interchange and is now Hawks Cycles.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Rescue Dive at Station" (PDF). Birmingham Post. 8 October 1954. The porter, Tony Rivers, of 132, Park Road, Netherton, Dudley, was taken unconscious to Dudley Guest Hospital with head and leg injuries.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Lot 217, 20 October 1993". Dix Noonan Webb. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  3. ^ "No. 40480". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 May 1955. p. 2874.
  4. ^ "Train timetables and schedules | Cradley Heath". West Midlands Railway.
  5. ^ "Train times | Snow Hill Lines - Worcester to Birmingham Snow Hill, Solihull and Stratford upon Avon | Timetable from 10 December 2023". West Midlands Railway.
  6. ^ "Timetable | 22 May 2023 - 8 December 2023: London to High Wycombe, Bicester, Oxford, Banbury, Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon and Birmingham". Chiltern Railways.
  7. ^ PSUL Summer 2004 - West Midlands Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Passenger Train Services over Unusual Lines; Retrieved 6 June 2016
  8. ^ "£1.9m Cradley Heath interchange facelift on track". Halesowen News. 24 September 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Bus stations and travel hubs". www.tfwm.org.uk. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  10. ^ "Midland Red depot information". midlandred.net. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

Further reading

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52°28′12″N 2°05′24″W / 52.470°N 2.090°W / 52.470; -2.090