Four Oaks railway station


Four Oaks railway station serves the Four Oaks area of Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, England. It is situated on the Cross-City Line. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Railway.

History

The station opened in 1884, when the London and North Western Railway's line from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield was extended to Lichfield. More recently, in May 1978 Four Oaks became the northern terminus of the newly inaugurated Cross-City Line from via Birmingham New Street, with trains running up to every 10 minutes in each direction.
The line to the north towards Lichfield City had a less frequent service to begin with, but the growing popularity of the route led to it gaining additional services by the mid-1980s. Eventually, the line was extended to Lichfield Trent Valley in November 1988. Electric operation at the station commenced in 1992, with the full line through to Redditch following suit in July 1993.
Four Oaks remains a terminus for some services from the south, which mostly use the dead-end platform 3 on the eastern side of the station to turn back. Northbound trains continuing to Lichfield use platform 1 and southbound ones from there use platform 2.

Facilities

The station has a staffed ticket office on the eastern island platform, which is open seven days per week. Ticket machines are available on platforms 1 and 2/3 for use outside these times and for collecting pre-paid tickets. Train running information is provided by customer help points, timetable posters, automated announcements and CIS displays. Step-free access is available to all three platforms.

Services

The standard Monday to Saturday pattern sees six trains per hour call at the station; two of these terminate at Four Oaks from the south, and four continue north to Lichfield City, two of which continue to Lichfield Trent Valley. Southbound there are six trains per hour, running via and terminating alternately at either Longbridge or Redditch. A limited service operates between Four Oaks and calling at all stations en route.
On Sundays, trains run between Lichfield Trent Valley and Redditch, calling all stations, every 30 minutes.