Hednesford railway station

Hednesford railway station the town of Hednesford in the Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway . It is located central to the town centre. It is also sometimes used as the terminus of certain services on the Chase Line.

Hednesford
Location
Place	Hednesford
Local authority	Cannock Chase
Coordinates	52.710°N 2.002°W / 52.710; -2.002
Grid reference	SJ999124
Operations
Station code	HNF
Managed by	West Midlands Railway
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.162 million
2015/16	0.167 million
2016/17	0.179 million
2017/18	0.160 million
2018/19	0.174 million
History
1859	Opened
18 January 1965	Closed to passengers
6 September 1965	Closed to goods traffic
10 April 1989	Reopened to passengers
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Hednesford from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

The station was opened in 1859 on the Cannock Mineral Railway's line from Cannock to Rugeley Town and taken over by the London and North Western Railway a decade later[1] (though the LNWR had worked the line from the outset). It closed to passengers on 18 January 1965 and to goods traffic on 6 September the same year as a result of the Beeching Axe, though the line that passed through remained in use for goods & mineral traffic, serving the power station at Rugeley and various local collieries.

The station reopened in 1989 by British Rail, as the terminus of the first stage of the reopening of the Chase Line from Walsall to passenger trains. At first, there was just a single platform (the current Walsall-bound one); however when services were extended to Rugeley Town in 1997, a second platform was added.

There is no ticket office so the Penalty fare scheme operates at the station, and passengers must buy a ticket or permit to travel from the machines at the station to avoid paying the £20 surcharge.[2]

Although it is not in the county, Hednesford operates a free travel for Concessionary Bus Pass holders which means it is the only out of county station of the West Midlands County to be part of the West Midlands Trains free travel zone. It comes under Zone 5 of the West Midlands Railway Network. It has been in place since the introduction of the scheme but is the only station to operate this scheme as Cannock, Landywood and Rugeley do not operate in the same zone.

Services

Service frequencies vary. On weekdays there are typically two trains per hour to Walsall and Birmingham at peak times and one train per hour during the off peak period and in the evenings. There are two trains per hour throughout the day on Saturdays with an hourly evening service. Trains operate between Birmingham New Street and Rugeley Trent Valley where connections to Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent and Crewe are available.[3]

On Sundays there is an hourly service throughout the day after 10am. Most services are operated by Class 350 electric trains and journey times are typically 21 minutes to Walsall and 45 minutes to Birmingham New Street. A small number of services to/from London Euston, Birmingham New Street or Walsall start or terminate here.

References

1. Cannock Chase History - Railways Stations around Cannock Chase Archived 13 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine www.cannockchasehistory.org; Retrieved 2013-08-30
2. West Midlands Railway Penalty Fares West Midlands Railway; Retrieved 7 April 2019
3. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 70 (Network Rail)

External links

• Train times and station information for Hednesford railway station from National Rail

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Rugeley Town		West Midlands Railway Chase Line		Cannock