Birmingham Snow Hill station
Encyclopedia
Birmingham Snow Hill is a railway station and tram stop in the centre of Birmingham
, England, on the site of an earlier, much larger station built by the former Great Western Railway
(GWR). It is the second most important railway station in the city, after Birmingham New Street station
. It is also the terminus of the Midland Metro
light rail
line from Wolverhampton
(via Wednesbury
and West Bromwich
), pending the line's extension.
The present Snow Hill station has three platforms for National Rail
trains. When it was originally reopened in 1987 it had four, but one was later converted for use by Midland Metro trams. The planned extension of the Midland Metro through Birmingham city centre includes a dedicated embankment for trams alongside the station, and this will allow the fourth platform to be returned to main-line use.
by Birmingham City Council
. The station was opened in 1852 on the Great Western Railway
(GWR) line from London (Paddington
) to . It was originally called Livery Street Station and was a simple large wooden shed. It was renamed Snow Hill in 1858, and the Great Western Hotel was added in 1863. By 1859 it was possible to travel from Snow Hill to London in just under three hours.
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Snow Hill had a new station which had a huge arched roof of iron and glass, with a simple wooden overhead bridge linking the two platforms. It was never intended to be the main station, but political gaming between the railway companies prevented the railway reaching its original intended terminus at Birmingham Curzon Street
.
Trains from the south arrived through Snow Hill Tunnel, built by the cut-and-cover method, and in a cutting from Temple Row to Snow Hill. The cutting was roofed over in 1872 and the Great Western Arcade
built on top.
In 1906 reconstruction of Snow Hill began, completed in 1912. The new station building was intended to compete with New Street, which at the time was a much grander building than it is today. The rebuilt station had a large booking hall with an arched glass roof. It contained lavish waiting rooms with oak bars. The bottom end of the station had fish platforms and goods storage. The station was twice as long as the current one, with eight through platforms and four bay platforms. Although the line through the tunnel has always been double-track, the line towards The Hawthorns
was a four-track main line. Because of capacity problems towards London, Moor Street station was built at the opposite end of the tunnel to take local trains towards Leamington Spa and Stratford upon Avon.
At its height, many trains that now run into New Street station ran into Snow Hill, along with some that no longer run. Services included:
by British Railways, Birmingham Snow Hill handled most of the rail traffic through the city, but the subsequent Beeching
closure programme in the 1960s took the view that Snow Hill station was unnecessary, and all services were switched to New Street and Moor Street
.
Long-distance services through Snow Hill were diverted to New Street in 1967; this happened at the same time Snow Hill's tunnel was closed to all traffic. Local trains towards Leamington Spa and Stratford upon Avon were terminated at Moor Street. The services diverted to New Street took advantage of curves which had been built many years earlier, and which had mainly been used for freight trains - for instance, the curve near Bordesley, which connected to the Camp Hill Line and allowed trains from the Solihull direction to reach New Street, had opened in 1861. Services to and from the West Country were diverted via Bromsgrove
, after the closure of the route via Stratford upon Avon to Cheltenham Spa. A shuttle service of four trains per day to Langley Green only was maintained along with a stopping service to Wolverhampton, Stourbridge services were diverted into New Street, and the route to Dudley was closed. In 1972 the lines were closed through to Smethwick and Wolverhampton, with the exception of a single line from Smethwick West
for Coopers Scrap Metal Works in Handsworth
(the works is still in operation to this day).
Despite a public outcry, the Snow Hill building was not preserved. The Great Western Hotel was demolished in 1969 and the station largely demolished in 1977, when the dangerous state of the building was revealed. However, it enjoyed a brief moment of fame when it was the setting for a fight scene in the locally-set (and Play for Today-based) BBC TV drama series Gangsters
. The ironwork of the station roof was badly corroded in several places, and the unstable ground and foundations on which the station had been built were causing it to slide downhill. A few items including the original gates and booking hall sign were saved and later used in the Moor Street
restoration. The site was for many years a car park.
In the mid-1980s British Rail
decided to re-open Snow Hill station as part of its cross-city transport plan for Birmingham.
In 1987 the newly rebuilt station opened for services to the south, some of the remaining parts of the original station being lost (the old parcels office, some platforms and the mosaic floor from former waiting rooms) and others incorporated (notably the now-sealed entrance, with GWR crest, in Livery Street). Initially only local stopping services to Leamington Spa and Stratford-upon-Avon used the new station. Services to London restarted in May 1993, routed to Marylebone instead of the pre-closure destination of Paddington. Services at Moor Street
, at the southern end of Snow Hill tunnel, were switched from the former terminal platforms, which then closed, on to the two through platforms, making a through station adjacent to the tunnel mouth.
The new Snow Hill station has a multi-storey car park above it, designed by Seymour Harris Partnership
.
On 24 September 1995, services north to Smethwick
and onwards to Worcester
resumed. On the first day there were steam-hauled special trains to Stourbridge Junction
.
In 1999, the line to Wolverhampton was re-opened as a light-rail
(tram) line, the Midland Metro
.
Work began on a new entrance on Livery Street to give commuters access to the lower Snow Hill and Jewellery Quarter
part of the city centre in 2005, but it did not open for business until March 2011. The work had a projected cost of £9.94 million, but due to Central Trains
' failure to apply for planning permission, and severe technical difficulties, the cost rose to at least £17 million. Although construction and interior finishes works were largely complete by the December of 2010, legal disputes between London Midland, Network Rail and Centro caused delay to the opening of the entrance by over a year.
development to carry the tram lines into the city centre. The project is scheduled for completion in 2015.
, and services are provided by London Midland and Chiltern Railways
. There is a small set of sidings at the Hockley end of the station, which can be reached from Platform 1 only. All platforms can be used in either direction; generally platforms 1 or 2 are used for trains heading towards , platform 2 is used for trains terminating at the station (usually Chiltern services from ) and platform 3 is used for trains towards , London Marylebone or . Midland Metro currently uses two small platforms numbered 4 and 5, which are terminating platforms.
Typical off-peak weekday service is as follows, in trains per hour (tph):
. The Chiltern service is:
, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive. They are operated by London Midland. There are:
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England, on the site of an earlier, much larger station built by the former Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR). It is the second most important railway station in the city, after Birmingham New Street station
Birmingham New Street Station
Birmingham New Street is the main railway station serving Birmingham, England, located in the city centre. It is an important hub for the British railway system, being served by a number of important long-distance and cross-country lines, including the Birmingham loop of the West Coast Main Line,...
. It is also the terminus of the Midland Metro
Midland Metro
The Midland Metro is a light-rail or tram line in the West Midlands of England between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via West Bromwich and Wednesbury. It is owned and promoted by Centro, and operated by West Midlands Travel Limited, a subsidiary of the National Express Group , under...
light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
line from Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
(via Wednesbury
Wednesbury
Wednesbury is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame. Similarly to the word Wednesday, it is pronounced .-Pre-Medieval and Medieval times:...
and West Bromwich
West Bromwich
West Bromwich is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands, England. It is north west of Birmingham lying on the A41 London-to-Birkenhead road. West Bromwich is part of the Black Country...
), pending the line's extension.
The present Snow Hill station has three platforms for National Rail
National Rail
National Rail is a title used by the Association of Train Operating Companies as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain...
trains. When it was originally reopened in 1987 it had four, but one was later converted for use by Midland Metro trams. The planned extension of the Midland Metro through Birmingham city centre includes a dedicated embankment for trams alongside the station, and this will allow the fourth platform to be returned to main-line use.
History
The site of the station was originally occupied by Oppenheims Glassworks. This was demolished, but many parts of the building and machinery are believed to be buried underneath the station and car park, and during recent development work alongside the station the area was designated as a site of archaeological importanceArea of archaeological potential
Areas of Archaeological Potential and other terms such as Area of High Archaeological Potential or Urban Archaeological Zone are terms used to identify parts of the country where it is known that buried archaeology is likely to survive...
by Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council
The Birmingham City Council is the body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 Birmingham...
. The station was opened in 1852 on the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR) line from London (Paddington
Paddington station
Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...
) to . It was originally called Livery Street Station and was a simple large wooden shed. It was renamed Snow Hill in 1858, and the Great Western Hotel was added in 1863. By 1859 it was possible to travel from Snow Hill to London in just under three hours.
Curzon Street railway station
Curzon Street railway station was a railway station in Birmingham that was used briefly for regular scheduled passenger services between 1838 and 1854 when it acted as the terminus for both the London and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway, with lines connecting Birmingham to London...
.
Trains from the south arrived through Snow Hill Tunnel, built by the cut-and-cover method, and in a cutting from Temple Row to Snow Hill. The cutting was roofed over in 1872 and the Great Western Arcade
Great Western Arcade
The Great Western Arcade is a covered Grade II listed Victorian shopping arcade lying between Colmore Row and Temple Row in Birmingham 4, England....
built on top.
In 1906 reconstruction of Snow Hill began, completed in 1912. The new station building was intended to compete with New Street, which at the time was a much grander building than it is today. The rebuilt station had a large booking hall with an arched glass roof. It contained lavish waiting rooms with oak bars. The bottom end of the station had fish platforms and goods storage. The station was twice as long as the current one, with eight through platforms and four bay platforms. Although the line through the tunnel has always been double-track, the line towards The Hawthorns
The Hawthorns
The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, Sandwell, England, with a capacity of 26,484. It has been the home of West Bromwich Albion F.C. since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the club. The ground was the last Football League ground to be built in the...
was a four-track main line. Because of capacity problems towards London, Moor Street station was built at the opposite end of the tunnel to take local trains towards Leamington Spa and Stratford upon Avon.
At its height, many trains that now run into New Street station ran into Snow Hill, along with some that no longer run. Services included:
- Shrewsbury, Chester and Mid Wales – these trains now run into New Street (although it is now possible to join a train to and change onto an Arriva Trains WalesArriva Trains WalesArriva Trains Wales is a train operating company, owned by Arriva, that operates urban and inter urban passenger services in Wales and the Welsh Marches...
service to these destinations). - Birkenhead – this was on the old GWR route from London Paddington. British Rail ended this service prior to Snow Hill closing in 1968.
- Cardiff Central via Hereford.
- Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth & Penzance via Stratford upon Avon – was the GWR trunk route. Dr Beeching closed the line between Stratford and Cheltenham SpaCheltenham Spa Malvern Road railway station-History:The station was opened by the Great Western Railway on 30 March 1908, as Cheltenham Malvern Road. It was provided so that trains along the line to would not have to start and terminate at , which involved a reversal. The station took its name from the road to the north from which a long...
. All services now run through New Street and via Bromsgrove. - Wolverhampton Low Level & Dudley – these services were cut entirely in 1972. The Midland MetroMidland MetroThe Midland Metro is a light-rail or tram line in the West Midlands of England between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via West Bromwich and Wednesbury. It is owned and promoted by Centro, and operated by West Midlands Travel Limited, a subsidiary of the National Express Group , under...
tram line now runs along the former route to Wolverhampton. - London Paddington – service transferred to New Street in 1967, and later abandoned altogether. The London service was restored in the early 1990s, but now to London Marylebone - making this Snow Hill's only long-distance service.
Closure
During the electrification of the West Coast Main LineWest Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...
by British Railways, Birmingham Snow Hill handled most of the rail traffic through the city, but the subsequent Beeching
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
closure programme in the 1960s took the view that Snow Hill station was unnecessary, and all services were switched to New Street and Moor Street
Birmingham Moor Street railway station
Birmingham Moor Street railway station is one of three main railway stations in the city centre of Birmingham, England. The Grade II listed old station building has been partially renovated to its 1930s condition at a cost of £11 million....
.
Bromsgrove railway station
Bromsgrove railway station serves the town of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. It is located at the foot of the two-mile Lickey Incline which ascends at a gradient of 1-in-37.7 towards Barnt Green on the line between Birmingham and Worcester. The station opened as part of the Birmingham and Gloucester...
, after the closure of the route via Stratford upon Avon to Cheltenham Spa. A shuttle service of four trains per day to Langley Green only was maintained along with a stopping service to Wolverhampton, Stourbridge services were diverted into New Street, and the route to Dudley was closed. In 1972 the lines were closed through to Smethwick and Wolverhampton, with the exception of a single line from Smethwick West
Smethwick West railway station
Smethwick West was a railway station on the Great Western Railway between Stourbridge Junction station and Smethwick Junction. It was opened as Smethwick Junction railway station in 1867....
for Coopers Scrap Metal Works in Handsworth
Handsworth, West Midlands
Handsworth is an inner city area of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. The Local Government Act 1894 divided the ancient Staffordshire parish of Handsworth into two urban districts: Handsworth and Perry Barr. Handsworth was annexed to the county borough of Birmingham in Warwickshire in 1911...
(the works is still in operation to this day).
Despite a public outcry, the Snow Hill building was not preserved. The Great Western Hotel was demolished in 1969 and the station largely demolished in 1977, when the dangerous state of the building was revealed. However, it enjoyed a brief moment of fame when it was the setting for a fight scene in the locally-set (and Play for Today-based) BBC TV drama series Gangsters
Gangsters (TV series)
Gangsters is a British television series made by the BBC and shown from 1975 to 1978.Created by Philip Martin, and produced at the BBC's Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham by David Rose, Gangsters began televisual life as an edition of Play for Today in 1975, followed by two series transmitted in...
. The ironwork of the station roof was badly corroded in several places, and the unstable ground and foundations on which the station had been built were causing it to slide downhill. A few items including the original gates and booking hall sign were saved and later used in the Moor Street
Birmingham Moor Street railway station
Birmingham Moor Street railway station is one of three main railway stations in the city centre of Birmingham, England. The Grade II listed old station building has been partially renovated to its 1930s condition at a cost of £11 million....
restoration. The site was for many years a car park.
Rebirth
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
decided to re-open Snow Hill station as part of its cross-city transport plan for Birmingham.
In 1987 the newly rebuilt station opened for services to the south, some of the remaining parts of the original station being lost (the old parcels office, some platforms and the mosaic floor from former waiting rooms) and others incorporated (notably the now-sealed entrance, with GWR crest, in Livery Street). Initially only local stopping services to Leamington Spa and Stratford-upon-Avon used the new station. Services to London restarted in May 1993, routed to Marylebone instead of the pre-closure destination of Paddington. Services at Moor Street
Birmingham Moor Street railway station
Birmingham Moor Street railway station is one of three main railway stations in the city centre of Birmingham, England. The Grade II listed old station building has been partially renovated to its 1930s condition at a cost of £11 million....
, at the southern end of Snow Hill tunnel, were switched from the former terminal platforms, which then closed, on to the two through platforms, making a through station adjacent to the tunnel mouth.
The new Snow Hill station has a multi-storey car park above it, designed by Seymour Harris Partnership
Seymour Harris Partnership
Seymour Harris Partnership is an architectural partnership based in Birmingham, England. Buildings designed by the practice include Colmore Gate in Birmingham, Queensgate Market in Huddersfield and St David's Hall in Cardiff....
.
On 24 September 1995, services north to Smethwick
Smethwick Galton Bridge railway station
Smethwick Galton Bridge is a railway station in Smethwick, West Midlands, England.The station is situated where two lines cross at different levels: the line from Birmingham Snow Hill to Stourbridge Junction crosses over the Stour Valley Line by means of a bridge. There are four platforms, two on...
and onwards to Worcester
Worcester Foregate Street railway station
Worcester Foregate Street railway station, opened by the Great Western Railway in 1860, is situated in the centre of the city of Worcester, in Worcestershire, England. It is physically the smaller of the two stations serving the city, but is more centrally located...
resumed. On the first day there were steam-hauled special trains to Stourbridge Junction
Stourbridge Junction railway station
Stourbridge Junction railway station is a railway station on the Birmingham, Worcester and Kidderminster Line in West Midlands, England. Stourbridge Town Branch Line runs from the station to Stourbridge town centre...
.
In 1999, the line to Wolverhampton was re-opened as a light-rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
(tram) line, the Midland Metro
Midland Metro
The Midland Metro is a light-rail or tram line in the West Midlands of England between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via West Bromwich and Wednesbury. It is owned and promoted by Centro, and operated by West Midlands Travel Limited, a subsidiary of the National Express Group , under...
.
Work began on a new entrance on Livery Street to give commuters access to the lower Snow Hill and Jewellery Quarter
Jewellery Quarter
The Jewellery Quarter is an area of Birmingham City Centre, England, situated in the south of the Hockley area. It is covered by the Ladywood district. There is a population of around 3,000 people in a area....
part of the city centre in 2005, but it did not open for business until March 2011. The work had a projected cost of £9.94 million, but due to Central Trains
Central Trains
Central Trains was one of the original 25 train operating companies to emerge from the break-up of British Rail between 1994 and 1997. The company operated local, urban and secondary express services across central England and Mid Wales.-Overview:...
' failure to apply for planning permission, and severe technical difficulties, the cost rose to at least £17 million. Although construction and interior finishes works were largely complete by the December of 2010, legal disputes between London Midland, Network Rail and Centro caused delay to the opening of the entrance by over a year.
Future
New platforms for the Midland Metro are due to be built as part of its City Centre Extension to New Street Station, part-funding for which was confirmed in the October 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review. A new viaduct has been built alongside the station as part of the SnowhillSnowhill
Snowhill is a mixed-use development by Ballymore between Snow Hill Queensway and Birmingham Snow Hill station in Birmingham City Centre, England. The £500 million phased scheme has been partly completed on the site of a former surface car park adjacent to the railway station. As part of the...
development to carry the tram lines into the city centre. The project is scheduled for completion in 2015.
Operations
The station is managed by London MidlandLondon Midland
London Midland is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Legally named London and Birmingham Railway Ltd, it is a subsidiary of Govia, and has operated the West Midlands franchise since 11 November 2007....
, and services are provided by London Midland and Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways is a British train operating company. It was set up at the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, and operates local passenger trains from Marylebone station in London to Aylesbury and main-line trains on the Chiltern Main Line to Birmingham Snow Hill with its associated branches...
. There is a small set of sidings at the Hockley end of the station, which can be reached from Platform 1 only. All platforms can be used in either direction; generally platforms 1 or 2 are used for trains heading towards , platform 2 is used for trains terminating at the station (usually Chiltern services from ) and platform 3 is used for trains towards , London Marylebone or . Midland Metro currently uses two small platforms numbered 4 and 5, which are terminating platforms.
Typical off-peak weekday service is as follows, in trains per hour (tph):
Long-distance services
Snow Hill is served by regular Chiltern services to and from London Marylebone. Some Chiltern services continue beyond Birmingham to KidderminsterKidderminster
Kidderminster is a town, in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately seventeen miles south-west of Birmingham city centre and approximately fifteen miles north of Worcester city centre. The 2001 census recorded a population of 55,182 in the town...
. The Chiltern service is:
- 2 tph peak/1 tph off peak to London Marylebone via
Local services
Local services from Snow Hill, like most local services in the West Midlands, are supported by CentroCentrO
CentrO is part of a large commercial development in Oberhausen, Germany, called the "Neue Mitte" or "new center". A large steel production plant used to occupy the site until the late 1980s. Besides the CentrO shopping mall the area today houses attractions such as a children's theme park and a...
, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive. They are operated by London Midland. There are:
- 3 tph to Whitlocks End:
- of which one continues to Stratford upon Avon
- 3 tph to Dorridge
- the Chiltern services to London Marylebone call at Solihull and Dorridge, giving Snow Hill 5 tph in the peak and 4 tph in the off peak to these stations
- 6 tph to Stourbridge Junction:
- of which four continue to Kidderminster:
- of which two continue to Worcester
- (services beyond Worcester, to Malvern and Hereford are irregular, generally about one per hour)
See also
- Transport in BirminghamTransport in BirminghamBirmingham is a major transport hub, due in part to its location in central England. Public transport in the city is overseen by the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive whose public brand is Centro/Network West Midlands.-Railways:-History:...
- Birmingham New Street stationBirmingham New Street StationBirmingham New Street is the main railway station serving Birmingham, England, located in the city centre. It is an important hub for the British railway system, being served by a number of important long-distance and cross-country lines, including the Birmingham loop of the West Coast Main Line,...
- Birmingham International railway stationBirmingham International railway stationBirmingham International railway station is located in the borough of Solihull, just east of the city of Birmingham in England.The station is on the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line 14 km east of Birmingham New Street and serves both Birmingham International Airport and the National Exhibition...
- Birmingham Moor Street railway stationBirmingham Moor Street railway stationBirmingham Moor Street railway station is one of three main railway stations in the city centre of Birmingham, England. The Grade II listed old station building has been partially renovated to its 1930s condition at a cost of £11 million....
External links
- Image of old station
- 1890 Ordnance Survey map of the station
- Article on this station from Rail Around Birmingham & the West Midlands
- Article on the Metro station from Rail Around Birmingham & the West Midlands
- A pictoral record of the station from 1871 to 1967 and the locomotives that used the station from Warwickshire's Railways
- The History of Birmingham Snow Hill Warwickshire Railways
