University railway station (England)


University railway station is a railway station serving the University of Birmingham, Birmingham Women's Hospital, and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the West Midlands of England. It is situated on the Cross-City Line, which runs from Redditch to Lichfield via Birmingham New Street. Most services are operated by West Midlands Trains who manage the station, with some services also operated by CrossCountry.

History

Located on the former Birmingham West Suburban Railway, University station was built in 1977/8 to the designs of the architect John Broome as part of the upgrade of the Cross City line. The station was opened by William Rodgers, the then Secretary of State for Transport, on 8 May 1978. Although this was the first station on the site, it is located a short distance away from the former Somerset Road station which was closed in the 1930s. The station is in part built on the site of the ancient Metchley Roman Fort. The Cross-City Line was electrified in 1993 and the current Class 323 electric multiple units were introduced by British Rail on local services.
In 2017, it was announced that University railway station would receive up to £10 million as an improvement fund to enhance passenger experience and reduce overcrowding, as part of the Government's Midlands Engine Strategy.

Facilities

Pedestrian access is via University Road West, close to the Medical School and bus interchange - around uphill from University Square. Owing to the station's campus location on a service road there is no car parking, although nearby Selly Oak station is a designated Park and Ride station. The station is also situated alongside the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, a popular cycling and jogging route. Access is at street level as there is a fence between Platform 2 and the towpath.
The station is the only main line railway station in Great Britain built specifically to serve a university. There is a covered waiting room on Platform 2. There are also two automated ticket machines on the concourse and two windowed ticket booths, staffed all day Monday to Saturday and from 9:20 on Sundays. There is lift access down to both platforms from the entrance. Fare control is enforced by a line of automatic ticket barriers installed in April 2009, as at Five Ways station.

Services

The station is served by West Midlands Trains with local Cross-City Line services operated by 3- or 6-car Class 323 electrical multiple units. West Midlands Trains longer-distance services to Hereford and CrossCountry services to Cardiff and Nottingham are operated by air-conditioned Turbostar diesel multiple units.
University station is the seventh busiest station in the Network West Midlands region in terms of passenger numbers, and the busiest without a direct link to London. Just under four million passenger journeys were made to and from the station in the year 2018-19.
The typical off-peak weekday service is as follows, in trains per hour :

Platform 1 (Northbound)

All services from Platform 1 stop at Birmingham New Street with an average journey time of 8 minutes.
There is level access from the street to the ticket office and footbridge. Lifts provide access to both platforms from the footbridge. The station has a wide ticket gate which wheelchair users can use unaided.