Four Oaks railway station

Four Oaks railway station serves the Four Oaks area of Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, England. It is situated on the Cross-City Line. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Railway.

Four Oaks
A front-on view of Platforms 2 & 3 at Four Oaks railway station in March 2024
General information
Location	Four Oaks, Birmingham England
Grid reference	SP117980
Managed by	West Midlands Railway
Transit authority	Transport for West Midlands
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	FOK
Fare zone	5
Classification	DfT category E
History
Opened	1884
Passengers
2019/20	0.805 million
2020/21	0.121 million
2021/22	0.377 million
2022/23	0.498 million
2023/24	0.606 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station opened in 1884, when the London and North Western Railway's line from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield was extended to Lichfield. More recently, in May 1978 Four Oaks became the northern terminus of the newly inaugurated Cross-City Line from Longbridge via Birmingham New Street, with trains running up to every 10 minutes in each direction.

The line to the north towards Lichfield City had a less frequent service to begin with (Lichfield being outside the West Midlands PTE boundary), but the growing popularity of the route led to it gaining additional services by the mid-1980s. Eventually, the line was extended to Lichfield Trent Valley in November 1988. Electric operation at the station commenced in 1992 (as far as New Street), with the full line through to Redditch following suit in July 1993.

Four Oaks remains a terminus for some services from the south, which mostly use the bay platform 3 on the eastern side of the station to turn back.^[1] Northbound trains continuing to Lichfield use platform 1 and southbound ones from there use platform 2 (though this can also be used for terminating trains from the south if required).

Facilities

Four Oaks platform with a ticket machine

The station has a staffed ticket office on the eastern island platform, which is open seven days per week (Monday - Friday 06:00 - 20:00, Saturday 07:00 - 20:00, Sunday 09:00 - 16:00). Ticket machines are available on platforms 1 and 2/3 for use outside these times and for collecting pre-paid tickets. Train running information is provided by customer help points, timetable posters, automated announcements and CIS displays. Step-free access is available to all three platforms.^[2]

Services

A Centro livery West Midlands Railway Class 323 at Four Oaks Platform 3 in 2023

The station is served by West Midlands Trains with local Transport for West Midlands branded "Cross-City" services, operated using Class 323 Electric multiple units (EMUs)^[3] until September 2024 and currently by Class 730 EMUs.^[4]

The off-peak service pattern is as follows:

Mondays to Saturdays:

• 2tph northbound to Lichfield Trent Valley via Lichfield City, departing from Platform 1.
• 4tph southbound to Longbridge via Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham New Street and University.
  • Of which:
    • 2tph continue to Redditch via Alvechurch, calling at all stations. These start here from Platform 3.
    • 2tph continue to Bromsgrove calling at all stations except Duddeston, 1tph does not call at Barnt Green. These depart from Platform 2.

Sundays:

• 2tph northbound to Lichfield Trent Valley.
• 2tph southbound to Redditch.

Services on Sundays call at all stations between Lichfield T.V. and Redditch.

The average journey time to Birmingham New Street is around 24 minutes.^[5][6]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Butlers Lane		West Midlands Railway Lichfield – Four Oaks – Birmingham – Bromsgrove/Redditch Cross-City Line		Sutton Coldfield
Terminus

Notes

1. "Cross City Line - Birmingham"Goegraph.org article; Retrieved 27 October 2016
2. Four Oaks station facilities National Rail Enquiries
3. "Class 323 fleet". West Midlands Railway.
4. "Class 730 fleet". West Midlands Railway.
5. "Train Timetables and Schedules | Four Oaks". West Midlands Railway.
6. "The Cross City Line: Lichfield Trent Valley – Four Oaks – Sutton Coldfield – Birmingham – University – Bromsgrove / Redditch | Timetable from Sunday 15 December 2024 until 17 May 2025". West Midlands Railway.

References

• An Historical Survey Of Selected LMS Stations Vol. One Dr R Preston and R Powell Hendry. Oxford Pub. Co. (1982, Reprinted in 2001) ISBN 0-86093-168-4

External links

• Train times and station information for Four Oaks railway station from National Rail
• Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Four Oaks station

52°34′48″N 1°49′41″W