Berkswell railway station

Berkswell railway station (/ˈbɜːrkswəl/ BURK-swəl), in the West Midlands of England, takes its name from the nearby village of Berkswell although it is located on the northern edge of the small town of Balsall Common. The station originally opened as Docker's Lane, changed to Berkswell on 1 January 1853, then to Berkswell & Balsall Common on 1 February 1928 before reverting to Berkswell again. It is situated on the West Coast Main Line between Coventry and Birmingham, specifically between the stations of Tile Hill (in west Coventry) and Hampton-in-Arden. The station and all trains serving it are operated by West Midlands Railway, while Avanti West Coast pass through the station without stopping. There are small lakes and a river on the Eastern side of the railway station.

Berkswell
Location
PlaceBalsall Common
Local authoritySolihull
Grid referenceSP244776
Operations
Station codeBKW
Managed byWest Midlands Railway
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryE
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 0.264 million
2015/16 0.295 million
2016/17 0.317 million
2017/18 0.323 million
2018/19 0.356 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTETransport for West Midlands
Zone5
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Berkswell from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
The station in 1962

History

In 2004, as part of a plan to upgrade the line to carry more high speed trains, the level crossing situated to the east of the station was removed and two small low parallel tunnels were built under the railway, one for road traffic and the other for pedestrians. The road tunnel, being too narrow for two-way traffic, is controlled by traffic lights. The level crossings at Tile Hill and Canley were also removed in the upgrade.

Berkswell was once the junction with a line that ran to Kenilworth, which opened on 2 March 1884 and closed to all traffic on 3 March 1969.[1] The trackbed of this line is gradually being converted into a "Greenway" for walking, cycling, and horse-riding. The route for the proposed High Speed 2 line will lie broadly parallel to this greenway, thus necessitating its realignment through and north-west of the village of Burton Green.[2] A length of track of the Kenilworth line survives as a siding. It was occasionally used for stabling the Royal Train.[3]

Services

On Mondays to Saturdays, Berkswell is served by two trains per hour off peak to Birmingham New Street and London Euston.[4] Some services terminate or start from Northampton and there are extra calls at peak times. On Sundays there is an hourly service between Birmingham New Street and Euston via Northampton.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Tile Hill   West Midlands Railway
Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line		   Hampton-in-Arden
Tile Hill   London Northwestern Railway
Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line		   Hampton-in-Arden or
Birmingham International

References
  1. Warwickshire Railways - Kenilworth JunctionWarwickshire Railways website article; Retrieved 2013-09-03
  2. CFA 18 map book: Stoneleigh, Kenilworth and Burton Green (Ref: ES 3.2.2.18) Archived 28 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Kenilworth Greenway – Warwickshire Country Parks". countryparks.warwickshire.gov.uk.
  4. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 68

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