Longbridge railway station

Longbridge railway station is a two-platform station, serving the Longbridge, Rednal, Rubery, and West Heath areas in the far south-west of Birmingham, England. It is on the Cross City Line. The station and all trains calling there are operated by West Midlands Trains.

History
Two previous stations serving Longbridge have existed: The first was opened at a location just south of the current station in either 1840 or 1841, when the original Birmingham and Gloucester Railway opened, it did not prosper and closed in 1849. 

Another Longbridge station had existed nearby, on the Halesowen Railway branch to Old Hill: this station only ever served workman's trains, and operated between 1915 and 1964. Until closure of much of the Longbridge factory, the disused track and Longbridge station building remained in situ.

The current station, on Tessall Lane, was built to the designs of the architect John Broome and opened in 1978 under the auspices of British Rail, as part of the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive's Cross-City Line scheme. It was built as a simple two platform station on the four-track line, with a turnback siding just south of the station for terminating services. Initially nearly all Cross-City Line services terminated here, until 1980 when some were extended to . The line was electrified in 1993.

Services
The station is served by West Midlands Trains with local Transport for West Midlands branded "Cross-City"  Class 323 electrical multiple units running along the route .

During Monday-Saturday daytimes, there are four northbound trains per hour. Two of these terminate at Four Oaks (calling at all stations), with the other two carrying on to Lichfield Trent Valley (calling at all stations apart from Duddeston). The average journey time to Birmingham New Street is around twenty minutes.
Southbound trains operate every thirty minutes to Redditch and every thirty minutes to Bromsgrove. Both services to Redditch call at  and , with one Bromsgrove-bound train per hour calling at Barnt Green. 

On Sundays, trains operate every twice per hour between Redditch and , as well as one train per hour between Bromsgrove and Birmingham New Street, calling at all stations en route.

Since July 29th, 2018, trains that used to terminate here were extended to  (except for a small number of early morning and late night trains) following the completion of a scheme to extend the Cross City electrification from Barnt Green. Two trains per hour operate to/from Bromsgrove Mon-Sat and one each way per hour on Sundays (the latter starting/terminating at New Street).

Disabled access
The station has level access from Longbridge Lane. The ticket office and footbridge are both accessible at this station. Platform 1 (for services toward and via Birmingham New Street) has a lift facility, whereas platform 2 (for trains towards Redditch and Bromsgrove) has a ramp to the platform from the main station building. The ramp has been criticized for being too steep, with requests being called for the lift facility to be re-instated.

The station also has a disabled toilet, accessible via a RADAR key.

Service patterns

Future plans 
In 2022, Network Rail published the West Midlands Strategic Rail Advice. Among other things, this guide suggested that Longbridge becomes the main "secondary hub" along the CrossCity South, having direct links to Nottingham, Cardiff, Hereford, and the South West. The train station would see approximately 32 services per hour.

This station could also be part of the newly re-instated Camp Hill line.

References

External links

Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Longbridge railway station
Warwickshire Railways page

Railway stations in Birmingham, West Midlands
DfT Category E stations
Former Midland Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1841
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1849
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1978
Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains
1841 establishments in England
John Broome railway stations