Whitlocks End railway station

Whitlocks End railway station is a railway station on the North Warwickshire Line located next to both the hamlet of Whitlock's End in the West Midlands of England and the small village of Major's Green in Worcestershire. It is also located a short distance from the village of Hollywood, and the new village of Dickens Heath. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Trains.

Whitlocks End
Whitlocks End station in 2011
Location
Place	Whitlock's End
Local authority	Solihull
Grid reference	SP102771
Operations
Station code	WTE
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	135,890
2015/16	143,224
2016/17	147,814
2017/18	158,060
2018/19	161,494
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Transport for West Midlands
Zone	4
History
Key dates	Opened 1936 (1936)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Whitlocks End from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station serves as the terminus for many local services on the Snow Hill Lines from either Stourbridge Junction, Kidderminster or Worcester Foregate Street. Of the three hourly services, two terminate/start here, and one continues to Stratford-Upon-Avon.

History

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway on 6 June 1936 to cater for the increased housing developments in the area, and was originally called Whitlocks End Halt, the suffix was dropped on 6 May 1968. The original 1936 station had short and low platforms, this led to it being completely rebuilt in 1999 at a cost of £800,000.[1]

The station formerly had only one train per hour in either direction, this was changed from 1 October 2010, when services which had previously terminated at Shirley were extended to terminate at Whitlocks End, with the opening of a new turnback facility at the station. This was done in order to alleviate traffic congestion at Shirley station, by encouraging commuters to drive to Whitlocks End, which is the next station along the line. This in turn led to the station car park being extended in September 2011 to accommodate increased demand.[2]

The 275-space free station car park is managed by Transport for West Midlands. Network Rail have recently completed a £60,000 improvement scheme that included the doubling of bicycle storage capacity from 12 to 24.

Services

During Monday to Saturday daytimes:

• 3 trains per hour northbound to Birmingham Moor Street and Birmingham Snow Hill continuing to Stourbridge Junction, with some trains continuing onward to Kidderminster and Worcester.
• 1 train per hour southbound to Stratford-upon-Avon (two services also terminate here from the Birmingham direction).[3]

On Sundays, there is an hourly service to Worcester Foregate Street via Snow Hill and to Stratford-upon-Avon.

References

1. Bevan, Alan. The Story of The North Warwickshire Line 1908 - 2008. Alard Print & Reprographics Limited.
2. "Links to Stratford-upon-Avon growing". www.globalrailnews.com. GLOBALRAILNEWS. 7 January 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
3. Table 71 National Rail timetable, May 2016

External links

• Train times and station information for Whitlocks End railway station from National Rail
• Entry for this station on Warwickshire railways
• Entry for this station on Rail around Birmingham & West Midlands

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Shirley		West Midlands Railway North Warwickshire Line		Wythall