Olton railway station

Olton railway station serves the Olton area of Solihull, in the West Midlands of England. The station is operated by West Midlands Trains, and is also served by Chiltern Railways services. The entrance seen in the centre where the station's booking office is located leads into a tunnel which runs under the tracks providing an access staircase and lift to the island platform. The station also has a car park and bicycle racks.

Olton
Location
PlaceOlton
Local authorityMetropolitan Borough of Solihull
Grid referenceSP134822
Operations
Station codeOLT
Managed byWest Midlands Trains
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryE
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 0.425 million
2015/16 0.461 million
2016/17 0.480 million
2017/18 0.499 million
2018/19 0.556 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTETransport for West Midlands
Zone4
History
Key datesOpened 1869 (1869)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Olton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

Origins

Olton station was opened in 1869[1] on the GWR's Oxford & Birmingham Branch and its prime role was as a suburban passenger station for Birmingham commuters, explaining why the booking office was located on the down platform.

Olton originally had two signal boxes, the first of which only had 10 levers. It was built by McKenzie and Holland and located at the Leamington Spa end of the up platform which was replaced in June 1913 but was ultimately closed in 1933.

Expansion

Olton station originally had a two-platform configuration with basic facilities, but taking advantage of the Development (Loan Guarantees and Grants) Act of 1929, the Great Western Railway continued to quadruple the Birmingham Main Line as far as Lapworth,[1] rebuilding five stations including Olton with two wide island platforms in 1932.

Current layout

The station was rebuilt in the 1930s and the new approach 'Station Drive' was also constructed. The station now has one wide island platform with trains to Solihull, Leamington Spa and London stopping one side and to Birmingham and Worcester the other. The platform building has been significantly reduced by the removal of its roof canopy.

Incidents

Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham, discussing railway accidents in the city, notes that:[2]

Police-officer Kimberley was killed in the crush at Olton Station on the Race Day, Feb. 11th, 1875.

Services

The station is served by three trains per hour in each direction between Birmingham Snow Hill and Dorridge. The Birmingham trains continue to either Stourbridge Junction, Kidderminster or Worcester Foregate Street. One Dorridge service per hour continues to Stratford-upon-Avon, in peak hours some services extend to Leamington Spa. Also a limited number of Chiltern Railways services stop here in the late evening and a single service operates in the morning commuter peak period.[3]

On Sundays, there is an hourly service each way between Stourbridge Junction and Dorridge.

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References
  1. Hendry, R. Preston; Hendry, R. Powell (1992). Paddington to the Mersey. Oxford Publishing Company. p. 81. ISBN 9780860934424. OCLC 877729237.
  2. Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham. Cornish Brothers. 1885. p. 5.
  3. Table 71 National Rail timetable, May 2017
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Acocks Green   West Midlands Railway
Leamington-Worcester		   Solihull
Acocks Green   Chiltern Railways
London-Birmingham		   Solihull


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