page_title: Transport in Birmingham
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Transport in Birmingham / Railways / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Moor Street Station, near to Birmingham, Great Britain. Relatively quiet on a Sunday morning, the concourse at Moor Street has been beautifully restored in keeping with its Great Western Railway origins - a dramatic contrast from the much larger New Street station, with its uncompromising 1960s architecture, a short walk away.
context_page_description: Birmingham is a major transport hub, due in part to its location in central England. Public transport and key highways in the city are overseen by Transport for West Midlands.
context_section_description: The first railway station to open in Birmingham was Vauxhall station, which opened in 1837 as a temporary railway shed. It served as the temporary Birmingham terminus of the Grand Junction Railway from Warrington. Curzon Street railway station opened in 1838 as the permanent terminus in the city and Vauxhall became a goods-only station until it was rebuilt and opened in 1869 under the London & North Western Railway (LNWR). The Curzon Street station entrance hall remains today in its original form, designed by Philip Hardwick, mirroring his design of the Euston Arch at the London terminus of the railway line. It is Grade I listed and is the world's oldest surviving piece of monumental railway architecture. It closed to all railway traffic in 1966.
  New Street station opened in 1854, and Curzon Street station fell out of passenger use, running only holiday excursions for the public. New Street helped by becoming a hub for railway lines, easing connections between them. Despite this, an extension of New Street station was required in the 1880s so that Midland Railway trains between Derby and Bristol no longer needed to use Camp Hill railway station which opened in 1840.
  Snow Hill station was the next major station to open in Birmingham, opening in 1852 as Livery Street station. It connected London Paddington to Wolverhampton Low Level. The station was rebuilt in 1871 to accommodate longer trains and again between 1906 and 1912. The latter scheme was undertaken so that the station could compete better with New Street. Other stations on the line in Birmingham were Soho & Winson Green and Hockley. To alleviate pressure on Snow Hill, Moor Street station was opened in 1909 as a terminus for the North Warwickshire lines. The two stations were linked by tunnel which closed in 1968, only to be reopened in 1987 under British Rail, when the new Moor Street station was completed. The 1960s Beeching cuts stated Snow Hill station as being unnecessary and the station closed in 1972 along with the line to Wolverhampton Low Level. The station was demolished by 1977, with only the original gates and booking hall sign surviving. However, in the 1980s, British Rail decided to re-open Snow Hill station as part of the cross-city transport plan for Birmingham. It reopened in 1987 as part of a completely redeveloped site with new office buildings replacing the original hotel, and multi-storey car parking over the station concourses. In 2011 a new station entrance was opened linking Snow Hill station to the Jewellery Quarter, on the other side of the A41 Queensway inner distribution road.
  In 1986, Moor Street was relocated adjacent to the original station. However, in 2002, the original Moor Street station was renovated by the Birmingham Alliance and Chiltern Railways at a cost of £11 million, and converted into a shopping and refreshment area connected to the new platforms.
  The Harborne Branch Line opened in 1875, connecting New Street to the outlying suburb of Harborne. A connection to the LNWR was created at Monument Lane. The branch terminated at Harborne railway station. The line began to suffer from falling passenger numbers, largely due to the increasing popularity of buses but also due to train delays as a result of congestion of routes at New Street station. Icknield Port Road station closed in 1931, and the other stations closed to passengers on 26 November 1934. The last passenger train to run on the line was an enthusiasts' special on 3 June 1950. The line closed to freight traffic on 4 November 1963.
  In 1978 the Cross-City Line came into being, comprising the former Midland Railway line between Redditch and New Street via Selly Oak and the London and North Western Railway Line between New Street and Lichfield. It connects Sutton Coldfield, which was absorbed into Birmingham in 1974, with the Birmingham city centre. This line provides the only passenger service to Sutton Coldfield; the Sutton Park Line, opened in 1879 and closed to passengers in 1965, is still in use as a freight-only line avoiding central Birmingham.
caption: Moor street station as of 2010 and after renovation
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