Stafford railway station

Stafford
Location
Place	Stafford
Local authority	Stafford
Coordinates	52.80359°N 2.12307°W / 52.80359; -2.12307
Grid reference	SJ918229
Operations
Station code	STA
Managed by	Virgin Trains
Number of platforms	5 (1,3,4,5,6)
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	1.016 million
2005/06 *	1.072 million
2006/07 *	1.155 million
2007/08 *	1.250 million
2008/09 *	1.493 million
2009/10 *	1.554 million
History
Opened July 1837 Rebuilt 1844 Rebuilt 1862 Current building opened 1962 (July 1837 Rebuilt 1844 Rebuilt 1862 Current building opened 1962)
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Stafford from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.

Stafford railway station serves the county town of Stafford in Staffordshire, England. It is an important main line interchange station in the United Kingdom.

The present station built in 1962 is a good example of the Brutalist style of architecture - the beauty of the building was perceived to be its very functionality and its designs follows the Modernist approach.

A 1902 Railway Clearing House diagram of railway junctions around Stafford

From the south, two branches of the West Coast Main Line meet here: the Trent Valley branch and the Birmingham branch. To the north, the trunk of the line continues towards Crewe, whilst the Manchester branch goes on to Stoke-on-Trent.

There are four platforms in use at the station, all of which are accessible from either of the main lines that converge from the south. Normally platforms 1 & 3 are used by trains to and from London and platforms 4 & 5 by trains to/from Birmingham. Platform 6 used to be the terminus of the Chase Line from Walsall and Birmingham, however this service has now been cut back to Rugeley Trent Valley, It is also used for Railtours and is split in to "a" and "b" sections. The former bay platform 2 is no longer used by passenger trains.

In 2007, the station's visual display units were upgraded.

History

The railway station in 1960

The first station was built by the Grand Junction Railway and opened in July 1837. It soon became inadequate and was replaced by a second station in 1844. A third station was built in 1862 which was eventually replaced by the current concrete brutalist building in 1962, built as part of the modernisation programme which saw the electrification of the West Coast Main Line.

Lines originally built by the Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway and the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company (to Shrewsbury) also used the station up to the 1960s.

Two accidents have happened at Stafford, both in recent years. In 1990, an out-of-service train heading to a depot in Birmingham crashed into the back of an express train bound for Penzance on Platform 4 at Stafford station. The driver was killed and 36 people were injured. Then in 1996, a mail train collided with a freight train carrying industrial acid just south of Stafford. A mail sorter was killed and another 22 people were injured. The mail train locomotive was catapulted up the embankment and came to rest against a house.

Services

The station is currently served by four train operators (Virgin Trains, London Midland and CrossCountry, with limited services from Arriva Trains Wales) and rail replacement bus services.

Typical weekday off-peak services are as follows, in trains per hour (tph).

Southbound Rail Services

• 2tph to Birmingham New Street, calling at Wolverhampton, Coseley and Birmingham New Street. Selected services also call at Penkridge and Smethwick Galton Bridge Operated by London Midland.
• 1tph to London Euston, calling at Rugeley Trent Valley, Lichfield Trent Valley, Tamworth, Polesworth, Atherstone, Nuneaton, Rugby, Northampton, Milton Keynes Central, Watford Junction and London Euston. Operated by London Midland.
• 1tph to London Euston only. Operated by Virgin Trains.
• 1tph to Bournemouth, calling at Wolverhampton, Birmingham New Street, Birmingham International, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central, Brockenhurst and Bournemouth. Operated by CrossCountry.

Virgin Trains also operates a limited service at the extremes of the day to Rugby, Milton Keynes Central and Watford Junction.
Arriva Trains Wales also operates a limited service to Birmingham New Street.

Northbound Rail Services

• 1tph to Manchester Piccadilly, calling at Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly. Operated by CrossCountry.
• 2tph to Liverpool Lime Street, calling at Crewe, Runcorn, Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool Lime Street. Selected services call at Winsford, Hartford and Acton Bridge. Operated by London Midland.
• 1tph to Liverpool Lime Street, calling at Runcorn and Liverpool Lime Street. Operated by Virgin Trains.
• 1tph to Crewe, calling at Stone, Stoke-on-Trent, Kidsgrove, Alsager and Crewe. Operated by London Midland.

Virgin Trains also operates a single early morning service to Holyhead and a single late night service to Manchester Piccadilly from London Euston, however this stops to set down passengers only. Arriva Trains Wales operates a limited service to Chester.

Rail Replacement Bus Services

Along the line between Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent, many stations are in use, but not served by rail services. Instead, a rail replacement bus service operates to serve these stations.

• Service 490 to Stone Granville Square, via Norton Bridge. Departing at 08:25, 10:25, 12:25 and 14:18, Monday - Saturday.
• Service 491 to Norton Bridge. Departing at 16:18 and 17:40, Monday - Saturday.

A connecting service operates from Stone to Stoke city centre via Stoke-on-Trent Railway Station (the X1 service, operated by Bakerbus), departing every hour throughout the day on weekdays and Saturdays. This service calls at more stations along the line that is not served by any rail services, including Barlaston and Wedgwood.

No Sunday service operates on either bus routes.

Future services

In 2009 the Association of Train Operating Companies, in its Connecting Communities: Expanding Access to the Rail Network proposed the reopening of the Link to Wellington to provide extra connections to the west and to provide alternate routes.

References

Lewis, Roy (1996). Staffordshire Railway Stations on old picture postcards (reprinted 2002). Nottingham: Reflections of a Bygone Age. ISBN 1-900138-05-0

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Wolverhampton		CrossCountry Cross Country Network		Stoke-on-Trent
				Crewe
Rugeley Trent Valley		London Midland London - Crewe		Stone
Penkridge		London Midland Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line		Crewe
Wolverhampton		Virgin Trains West Coast Main Line		Crewe
London Euston				Stoke-on-Trent
Crewe		Arriva Trains Wales North Wales Coast Line		Wolverhampton
Disused railways
Terminus		Great Northern Railway Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway		Stafford Common
Terminus		London and North Western Railway Shropshire Union Railways		Haughton