Smethwick Rolfe Street railway station

Smethwick Rolfe Street is one of two railway stations serving the town of Smethwick, West Midlands, England. It is situated on the Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line 3¼ miles (5 km) north west of Birmingham New Street. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Railway. The other station serving Smethwick is Smethwick Galton Bridge, which is the next stop up the line.

Smethwick Rolfe Street
General information
Location	Smethwick, Sandwell England
Coordinates	52.496°N 1.971°W / 52.496; -1.971
Grid reference	SP021887
Managed by	West Midlands Railway
Transit authority	Transport for West Midlands
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	SMR
Fare zone	2
Classification	DfT category E
History
Opened	1852
Original company	Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Stour Valley Railway
Passengers
2019/20	0.638 million
2020/21	0.143 million
2021/22	0.292 million
2022/23	0.402 million
2023/24	0.393 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station was opened in July 1852^[1] by the Birmingham, Wolverhampton, & Stour Valley Railway Company (later absorbed by London and North Western Railway) as part of the Stour Valley Line from Birmingham to Wolverhampton. It was rebuilt in its present form in 1890^[1] when two level crossings in the centre of Smethwick were abolished. Drawings of the rebuilt station can be found on the Smethwick Rolfe Street Station gallery page of the Network Rail Corporate Archive.

In 1985, pupils from Parkside Junior School created a mural for Platform 1 under the direction of artist Jeremy Waygood as part of the Birmingham to Wolverhampton Corridor Initiative.^[2]

In June 2017, this mural was removed and replaced by one created by students from Sandwell College under the direction of artist Steve Field. In addition, an exhibition room was created by another set of students from the college to display the history of the station and of the murals.^[3] In October 2017 this work was recognised in the ACoRP Community Rail Awards with a 1st place for Involving Diverse Groups and a 3rd place for Community Art Schemes - Permanent.^[4]

Work began in January 2022 to install lifts to allow step-free access to the station. The project is expected to be completed by July.^[5]

Services

The station is served by two trains per hour in each direction Mondays to Saturdays, by the local service between Wolverhampton, Birmingham New Street and Walsall via Aston. On Sundays, the service runs hourly.^[6][7][8] These are operated by Class 350 and Class 730 EMUs.

Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, London Northwestern Railway and Transport for Wales Rail trains run through the station but do not stop. London Northwestern Railway does call at the nearby station of Smethwick Galton Bridge en route to Liverpool Lime Street.^[9]

The station platforms.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Birmingham New Street		West Midlands Railway Walsall/Birmingham - Wolverhampton		Smethwick Galton Bridge
	Historical railways
Soho Line open, station closed		London and North Western Railway & Great Western Railway		Smethwick West Line open, station closed