Coventry Arena railway station

Coventry Arena railway station is a railway station on the Coventry-Nuneaton Line. Located in the north of Coventry, England, it serves the adjacent Ricoh Arena, for which it is named. It was opened on 18 January 2016, along with Bermuda Park station[1] after considerable delays.[2][3]

Coventry Arena
Station soon after opening (Jan 2016)
Location
PlaceCoventry
Local authorityCoventry
Grid referenceSP344833
Operations
Station codeCAA
Managed byWest Midlands Trains
Number of platforms2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2015/16     11,964
2016/17 86,706
2017/18 99,514
2018/19 111,462
History
18 January 2016Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Coventry Arena from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Combined with the stadium's parking it provides a Park and Ride facility. The station has two platforms on the double tracked line. The northbound platform, adjacent to the stadium, is three cars long, but the southbound platform is 6 cars long. Step-free access is provided to both platforms, and there are gates and holding facilities to cope with event-days at the Ricoh.

Although the station was intended to serve the adjacent Ricoh Arena, it was announced in August 2015 that the station will be closed for one hour preceding and following football matches, rugby matches and concerts on safety grounds: there is insufficient rolling stock to run the services necessary for spectators:[4] while six-carriage trains could be chartered to run every half-an-hour during weekends, the fares generated would not cover the chartering cost.[3] The then operator London Midland stated that the rolling stock restriction limited services to one train an hour using a single-coach Class 153 unit, which can only seat 75 people.[4] In September 2015 it was revealed that Coventry City Council were looking into the possibility of using converted London Underground D-trains to run extra services on match days, although this never happened.[5] In 2019, two coach Class 172 units took over the running of the service.

History

No previous station has existed at this site. However, the former Longford and Exhall station, which closed in 1949, was situated around 1⁄2 mile (800 m) to the north.

Funding for the new station was approved in December 2011. However, a number of setbacks meant that construction did not begin until October 2014 with services projected to start in June 2015, although this was later pushed back several times.[6] The station opened together with Bermuda Park railway station in Nuneaton on 18 January 2016.[7]

Services

One train per hour calls in each direction Mondays to Saturdays throughout the day, with southbound trains continuing to Kenilworth and Leamington Spa. Sunday services do not start running until just before noon, but then run on the same frequency as on weekdays thereafter until end of service (but to Coventry only southbound).[8]

Preceding station National Rail Following station
West Midlands Railway
Coventry-Nuneaton Line
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References
  1. "New stations are opened but matchday rail services are still off the timetable". Nuneaton News. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  2. "Coventry reacts to Ricoh Arena rail station delays: 'Embarrassing for the city!'". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  3. "Ricoh Arena railway station hit by further delays". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  4. "Coventry City FC and Wasps RFC fans warned not to use new Ricoh Arena train station". Coventry Telegraph. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  5. "London Underground tube trains could be used to sort Ricoh Arena station fiasco". Coventry Telegraph. 8 September 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  6. "Work starts on new Ricoh Arena station". Coventry Telegraph. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  7. "Coventry Arena and Bermuda Park railway stations open". BBC News. BBC. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  8. Table 63 National Rail timetable, May 2019

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