Water Orton railway station

Water Orton railway station serves Water Orton in Warwickshire, near Birmingham, England. It is owned by Network Rail, and managed by West Midlands Trains. However, no West Midlands Trains stop there; it is only served by CrossCountry services.

Water Orton
The station in 2013.
Location
Place	Water Orton
Local authority	North Warwickshire
Coordinates	52.518611°N 1.743889°W / 52.518611; -1.743889
Grid reference	SP174912
Operations
Station code	WTO
Managed by	West Midlands Trains
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	38,916
2015/16	45,886
2016/17	51,680
2017/18	55,642
2018/19	57,080
History
1842	first station opened
1909	resited
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Water Orton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Lines around Whitacre Junction

History

It was first opened in 1842 by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway on its line into Birmingham Lawley Street from Whitacre Junction.

However the Midland Railway built a cutoff line from slightly further west to a junction at Kingsbury in 1909 and the station was resited.[1] Although the distance saved was only a mile-and-a-quarter, the junctions at Water Orton and Kingsbury could be taken at a much higher speed than the original one at Whitacre. The line from Whitacre to Kingsbury is used by only a few trains a week, such as the 20:30 Crosscountry service from Birmingham towards Derby, though it passes fast through Water Orton.

A freak tornado in Birmingham in 1996 damaged the wooden staircase. Rather than remove and replace the stairs, the damaged staircase was repaired in situ resulting in a zig-zag appearance. Local residents approved of this and it was left as it is found today.

A panorama of the front of the station.

Services

Platform 1 is used for trains to Leicester and Birmingham. Platform 2 is used for trains to Derby, of which only one calls.

Services are mainly two hourly to Birmingham New Street and Leicester, with additional services in the peak.[2]

There is one train a day Monday-Friday to Derby via Tamworth; one also calls in the opposite direction.

There is no Sunday service.

References

1. Pixton, B., (2005) Birmingham-Derby: Portrait of a Famous Route, Runpast Publishing
2. Table 47 & 57 National Rail timetable, May 2019

External links

• Train times and station information for Water Orton railway station from National Rail
• Water Orton station at warwickshirerailways.com
• Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Water Orton railway station

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Birmingham New Street		CrossCountry Birmingham-Leicester Mondays-Saturdays only		Coleshill Parkway
	Historical railways
Castle Bromwich		Midland Railway Birmingham-Peterborough line		Forge Mills