The tracks approaching the station Birmingham New Street is a major railway station located in the centre of the city of Birmingham, England.
New Street is Birmingham's main railway station, and is a major hub of the British railway system. Due to its central location, railway lines from all over the United Kingdom run into it including railway lines to: London, Manchester, Scotland, Wales, Bristol, Penzance, Nottingham, Leicester, Shrewsbury and Newcastle. The station is also a terminus for many local train services from throughout the West Midlands conurbation. It is also the main station on the local Cross City railway line, servicing Lichfield, Redditch and stations in between. Direct trains run to more stations from New Street than from any other station on the British railway network. 31 million people pass through New Street station every year. It is one of seventeen UK railway stations managed by Network Rail.
History New Street station was constructed as a joint station by the London and North Western Railway and the Midland Railway between 1846 and 1854 to replace several earlier unconnected rail termini, the most notable being Curzon Street.
Because it was constructed by two companies, the original New Street Station was effectively two stations built side-by-side. Each company had one half, with a road, Queen's Drive, between them. This lead to an incovenient track layout which restricted capacity. In 1923, the two companies, with others, were grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS).
The station was completely re-built by the then-nationalised British Railways in the mid 1960s, when the West Coast Main Line was modernsied and electrified. Queen's Drive was lost in this rebuilding. The rebuilt station has a shopping centre and car park above it and is thus dark, enclosed (except at the far ends) and widely disliked.
The local press regularly report plans to rebuild the station once again, including a proposed "double decker" layout, with suburban_line platforms below those for long_ distance trains, but so far no funding has been found for this scheme.
See Also
Bibliography - Birmingham New Street. The Story of a Great Station Including Curzon Street. 1 Background and Beginnings. The Years up to 1860. By Richard Foster. Wild Swan Publications Limited (1990) ISBN 0906867789
- Birmingham New Street. The Story of a Great Station Including Curzon Street. 2 Expansion and Improvement. 1860 to 1923. By Richard Foster. Wild Swan Publications Limited (1990) ISBN 0906867797
- Birmingham New Street. The Story of a Great Station Including Curzon Street. 3 LMS Days. 1923-1947 By Richard Foster. Wild Swan Publications Limited (1997) ISBN 1874103372
- Birmingham New Street. The Story of a Great Station Including Curzon Street 4 British Railways. The First 15 Years. By Richard Foster. Wild Swan Publications Limited (Publication awaited).
External link - Birmingham New Street (http://www.networkrail.co.uk/Stations/stations/BirminghamNewStreet/Default.aspx) on Network Rail's major stations site
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Cateogry:Transport in Birmingham, England
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