Kidderminster railway station

For the Severn Valley Railway station, see Kidderminster Town railway station.

Kidderminster railway station is the main station serving the large town of Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England and the wider Wyre Forest district. The station is operated by West Midlands Trains, and is on the Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line. Regular commuter services run to Birmingham and Worcester. It shares its station approach with the adjacent Severn Valley Railway station.

Kidderminster
Station frontage
General information
Location	Kidderminster, Wyre Forest England
Grid reference	SO838763
Owned by	Network Rail
Managed by	West Midlands Trains
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	KID
Classification	DfT category D
History
Opened	1852
Passengers
2018/19	1.638 million
2019/20	1.530 million
2020/21	0.371 million
2021/22	0.799 million
2022/23	0.916 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail & Road

History

Kidderminster station opened with the extension of the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway from Worcester to Stourbridge on 1 May 1852. It became an important intermediate station on the line which became part of the West Midland Railway in 1860, which in turn amalgamated with the Great Western Railway and the South Wales Railway on 1 August 1863.^[1]

The opening of the Severn Valley Railway in 1862 had no direct effect on Kidderminster because the line initially had only a south facing connection to Hartlebury, passengers wishing to use the line had to change there. The situation changed in 1878, when a north-facing connection was opened between Bewdley and Kidderminster, linking Kidderminster directly with the Severn Valley Line.^[2]

Kidderminster station in 1963, with auto-train to Bewdley.

From about 1900, there was a brisk passenger trade of tourists and day trippers from the West Midlands conurbation.

Due to dwindling passenger numbers, the Severn Valley Line closed to through traffic in 1963. North of Bewdley, the line closed completely in early 1969 when Alveley colliery was shut down and freight traffic ceased.

Passenger services on the Kidderminster, Bewdley and Hartlebury section were withdrawn on 3 January 1970.^[3]

The halt of traffic to Stourport power station in 1979, and Kidderminster to Foley Park British Sugar traffic in 1982 saw the end of regular British Rail services off the main line.

Station buildings

The earliest station building was replaced by another in 1859. In 1863 the second building was destroyed by fire, and a third station building of a Mock Tudor design was built to replace it. This survived until 1968 when it was demolished owing to the effects of dry rot and replaced by British Rail in 1974 with a small utilitarian brick building.^[4][5][6]

As passenger numbers grew, this building became inadequate, and funding for a new building was secured in February 2015,^[7] with a new £4.3 million design announced in July 2017. Originally due to open in summer 2019, the new glass fronted building, which is twice the size of the previous one, was eventually opened in June 2020.^[8][9]

• 
  The 1863 Mock Tudor station building, demolished in 1968.
• 
  The 1974 brick station building, in 2006.
• 
  The new glass-fronted station building, opened 2020.

Facilities

There is a large car park for 400 cars, administered by West Midlands Trains, in part of the old goods yard between the two railway stations. The Severn Valley Railway has its own car park on the town centre side of its station.

In 2009 a footbridge (with lifts) was opened, transforming access between the platforms. Before this work, it was via the road overbridge.^[10]

Prior to its demolition, the signal box (a short distance to the south of the station) was known as Kidderminster Junction. This controlled the junction to the Severn Valley Line until its closure in the 1970s.

Severn Valley Railway terminus

The Severn Valley Railway's southern terminus shares the same station approach road and is known as Kidderminster Town to distinguish it from the National Rail station. This also reflects the Great Western Railway tradition of suffixing the station name with "Town" if it was closer to the main body of the town served than that of its competitor(s), which Kidderminster Town achieves to the tune of around 60 yards.

Services

Station platforms.

All trains using the station are operated by West Midlands Railway as part of the Snow Hill Lines.^[11][12]

The standard off peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:

• 4 tph to Birmingham Snow Hill and Birmingham Moor Street, semi fast, of which 2 continue to Dorridge and 2 to Whitlocks End;
• 2 tph to Worcester (either Foregate Street or Shrub Hill).

From September 2002 until May 2023, Chiltern Railways peak-hour services to and from London Marylebone terminated at Kidderminster.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Hagley or Blakedown		West Midlands Railway Stratford-Birmingham-Kidderminster-Worcester Snow Hill Lines		Hartlebury or Droitwich Spa
		West Midlands Railway Leamington-Worcester
	Heritage railways
Interchange with Kidderminster Town on the Severn Valley Railway

References

1. Boynton, John (1995). Rails Through The Hills, Birmingham - Stourbridge, Worcester - Malvern - Hereford. Mid England Books. ISBN 0-9522248-2-8.
2. John Boynton, The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway, Mid England Books, Kidderminster, 2002, ISBN 0 954 0839 0 3
3. Boynton, John (1998). A Century of Railways Around Birmingham and the West Midlands, Volume Two, 1948 - 1972. Mid England Books. ISBN 0-9522248-5-2.
4. Kidderminster Station being rebuilt The Railway Magazine issue 806 June 1968 page 319
5. Regional News Rail issue 891 6 November 2019 page 26
6. Kidderminster & District Archaeological & Historical Society Building Record of Kidderminster Railway Station.
7. "Kidderminster station revamp to begin after £1.8m funding award". BBC News. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
8. "Plans for £4.3 million redevelopment of Kidderminster railway station revealed". Kidderminster Shuttle. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
9. "Kidderminster station building opens". Railway Gazette International. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
10. "Delays to footbridge are 'major problem'". Kidderminster Shuttle. 7 March 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
11. "Train timetables and schedules | Kidderminster". West Midlands Railway.
12. "Train times | Snow Hill Lines - Worcester to Birmingham Snow Hill, Solihull and Stratford upon Avon | 21 May until 9 December 2023". West Midlands Railway.
13. MP at launch of London train Worcester News 30 September 2002
14. Passengers advised new train timetables imminent BBC News 5 May 2023
15. Balancing enhancements with efficiency Modern Railways issue 896 May 2023 page 63
16. Chiltern re-times trains to retain extra midweek peak capacity Rail issue 983 17 May 2023 page 10

Bibliography

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2007). Kidderminster to Shrewsbury. Middleton Press. figs. 11-22. ISBN 9781906008109. OCLC 154801530.
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2007). Worcester to Birmingham. Middleton Press. figs. 29-41. ISBN 9781904474975. OCLC 263292710.

External links

v t e Railway lines in Worcestershire
Legend
Kidderminster line to Birmingham Snow Hill Cross-City Line to Birmingham New Street Hagley Birmingham–Stratford line to Birmingham Moor Street Wythall Blakedown Birmingham–Stratford line to Stratford-upon-Avon Barnt Green Kidderminster Town Kidderminster Blackwell Alvechurch Foley Park Halt Lickey Incline Bewdley Tunnel Redditch Rifle Range Halt Stourport-on-Severn Gloucester loop line via Alcester Hartlebury Bromsgrove Bewdley Cutnall Green Halt Stoke Works Northwood Halt Droitwich Spa Junction Wyre Forest Droitwich Spa Arley Newnham Bridge Fernhill Heath Severn Valley Railway to Bridgnorth Blackpole Halt Easton Court Astwood Halt Tenbury and Bewdley Railway to Woofferton Droitwich Road Worcester Tunnel Junction Dunhampstead Worcester TMD Oddingley Spetchley Vinegar works Worcester Shrub Hill Worcester Foregate Street Norton Worcestershire Parkway Stoulton former freight branch Pershore River Severn Abbot's Wood Junction Wyre Halt Henwick Fladbury Boughton Halt Wadborough Rushwick Halt Defford Leigh Court Eckington Knightwick Bredon Bransford Road Gloucester loop line via Alcester Suckley Harvington Worcester, Bromyard & Leominster Rly to Leominster Evesham Newland Halt Bengeworth Malvern Link Hinton Great Malvern Ashton-under-Hill Malvern Hanley Road Beckford Upton-on-Severn Littleton and Badsey Ripple Honeybourne Malvern Wells Cotswold Line to Hereford Honeybourne Line to Stratford-upon-Avon Ashchurch for Tewkesbury Cotswold Line to Oxford Cross Country Route to Cheltenham Spa Broadway Gloucestershire Warwickshire Rly to Cheltenham Racecourse

• Train times and station information for Kidderminster railway station from National Rail
• Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Kidderminster station

52.384°N 2.239°W / 52.384; -2.239