Walsall railway station serves the town of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England. It is managed by West Midlands Trains, which also operates all services that stop here under the West Midlands Railway brand. The main entrance is situated inside the Saddlers Shopping Centre, in the middle of the town.

History

The Grand Junction Railway provided the town with its first rail service, albeit indirectly from 1837. Their Birmingham-to-Warrington line passed to the south and was provided with a station at Bescot Bridge, near to the present station, from where travellers could catch a connecting stagecoach. The Grand Junction company laid a branch line from Bescot to a temporary depot in the town at Bridgeman Place a decade later, but it was not until 9 April 1849 that a permanent station was opened on the present site. This was completed by the South Staffordshire Railway as part of their route from Wichnor Junction, south of , to , which opened the same day.

Further route development followed; the SSR added a branch northwards to Cannock in 1858, which was extended to Rugeley the following autumn, whilst the Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway line linked the town to Wolverhampton via North Walsall in 1872. The network was completed by the Midland Railway; the line from via opened in 1879.

The Midland had by this time also purchased the W&WR from its rival London and North Western Railway (LNWR), though the LNWR still ran occasional services over it until the 1923 Grouping. The station was rebuilt in 1883, due to increasing traffic levels, with five platforms and separate booking offices for each of the two companies using it. The line from to Walsall, through , was energised on 15 August 1966.

The station was redeveloped and incorporated into the Saddlers Centre shopping centre in 1980.

In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, vast improvements were made to the quality of services from Walsall. In April 1989, passenger services were reintroduced by British Rail on the previously freight-only line to 24 years after they were withdrawn. The West Midlands Combined Authority still has ambitions to reinstate a regular (half-hourly) weekday service on the route and reopen the stations at Willenhall and Darlaston, but funding problems have precluded any action being taken on the proposals.

In the May 2019 timetable, there were services to London Euston which called at Bescot Stadium and Tame Bridge Parkway on the Chase Line before it continuing to , , , , and . This has been withdrawn and instead starts from New Street.

There were plans to introduce direct services to London Euston operated by Avanti West Coast in 2021; however in the December 2022 timetable changes, it was decided this would not go ahead.

There were also two morning services a day to and , via Birmingham and Wolverhampton. This service was also introduced in the timetable change in May 2019; they were operated as extensions of the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton Line, replacing the former Liverpool Lime Street service. However in December 2019, following problems with services and disruptions, the Walsall service was once again withdrawn; this was replaced by a through to Wolverhampton service.

Incidents

On 23 December 1854, a double headed southbound goods train from the north was held outside the station, with a second goods train drawn up behind it. A third goods train collided with the rear of the second, at speed, forcing it into the first. The fireman of the second of the engines of the third train, on his first turn in the role, was killed after jumping from his engine. The driver of the leading engine was charged with manslaughter. The case against him was dropped.

Beeching Axe and closures

Walsall was one of the towns most affected by the Beeching Axe, which resulted in passenger services being withdrawn on the line to in July 1964 and on the Wolverhampton-Walsall-- and Walsall-Sutton Park-Birmingham routes in January 1965.

Layout and facilities

The station has three platforms:

  • 1: operating northbound, semi-fast services from Birmingham New Street to Rugeley Trent Valley;
  • 2: operating southbound, semi-fast services from Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham New Street;
  • 3: a terminus platform, operating local services to Wolverhampton via Birmingham New Street.

Platforms 2 and 3 have been recently refurbished, with a new waiting room added and poems on the walls of the stairs to the platforms. The main line platforms are electrified to 25 kV AC overhead power.

A self-service ticket machine was placed on platform 1 but was no longer in place in April 2011; however, a similar machine remains in the station booking hall which is at street level above platform 3. The station has a staffed ticket office.

Services

West Midlands Railway operates the following service pattern:

Mondays to Saturdays:

  • 4 trains per hour (tph) southbound to , of which:
  • 2 tph to , running fast to New Street calling at before stopping at local stations to Birmingham International.
  • 2 tph to , calling at all stations
  • 2 tph to , calling at all stations.

Sundays:

  • Services run hourly in both directions.

The fast trains to Birmingham have occasional calls at and are routed via the direct line through Soho and . The local stopping trains run via on its route to Birmingham New Street.

Commuters to London have to change at Rugeley Trent Valley, Wolverhampton or Birmingham New Street.

Future proposals

There are plans to reopen a terminus single platform at the disused Aldridge station for trains to Birmingham New Street, via Walsall but not to and .

In a strategy conducted by the West Midlands Combined Authority, the line from Walsall to Lichfield has been identified as a disused rail corridor and this means that it is a long term ambition to reopen the line from Walsall to Lichfield, either a rail/light rail corridor. There are also aspirations to reconnect the disused line at Wednesbury to Walsall as either rail or tram.

There are also proposals to reintroduce services to Wolverhampton via Willenhall, with reopened stations at and , operated by West Midlands Railway. This would give passengers a faster service to Wolverhampton as opposed to the current service via Birmingham New Street. This was due to open in 2024.

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Image:Walsall 21st March 2007.JPG|A view from platform 1 looking north towards the tunnel under the Saddlers Centre, in March 2007

Image:Walsall railway station in 1979.jpg|A electric multiple unit at Walsall, in 1979

Image:Bombardier Aventra Class 730 EMU.jpg|A being tested at Walsall, on 19 March 2021

</gallery>

References

  • History of Walsall's railway station