Tamworth railway station

This article is about the railway station in Staffordshire. For the railway station in New South Wales, see Tamworth railway station, New South Wales.

Tamworth is a split-level railway station which serves the market town of Tamworth, in Staffordshire, England. It is an interchange between two main lines: the Cross Country Route and the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line (WCML). It has four platforms: two low-level platforms (1 and 2) on the WCML and, crossing over these, two high-level platforms (3 and 4) served by the Cross Country Route. Historically, there were chords connecting the two lines, but there is no longer any rail connection between them.

Tamworth
Tamworth station, looking westbound on the West Coast Main Line
General information
Location	Tamworth, Borough of Tamworth England
Coordinates	52.6374°N 1.6869°W / 52.6374; -1.6869
Grid reference	SK213044
Managed by	London Northwestern Railway
Platforms	4
Tracks	6
Other information
Station code	TAM
Classification	DfT category C2
History
Opened	12 August 1839 (1839-08-12)
Original company	Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway and London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1847	New joint station buildings erected
1909	Station jointly staffed by the MR and LNWR
1961	Station rebuilt
Passengers
2019/20	1.271 million
Interchange	0.393 million
2020/21	0.234 million
Interchange	43,012
2021/22	0.834 million
Interchange	0.209 million
2022/23	0.945 million
Interchange	0.203 million
2023/24	1.030 million
Interchange	0.265 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The main station building in 1847 (from the Illustrated London News, 4 December 1847)

The original station was opened on 12 August 1839 by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway,^[1] a forerunner of the Midland Railway, on its original route from Derby to Hampton-in-Arden meeting the London and Birmingham Railway for London. Later, in 1842, the B&DJ built a branch to Birmingham, terminating at Lawley Street railway station.

On 26 June 1847, the London and North Western Railway opened its Trent Valley line^[2] passing at a right angle beneath the original Birmingham and Derby line with a new joint station designed by John William Livock.^[3]

The joint station did not acquire the High Level and Low Level names until 1924.^[4] Since it was expected that only local trains would call, the low level platforms were on loops, with the running lines left clear for expresses. At that time, there was a north to west curve linking the, by then, Midland Railway line with the LNWR line. This curve was opened in 1847 and closed in March 1969.^[5]

A north to east curve was also constructed; however, it's unclear whether this chord was ever completed, let alone used. It appeared to have been built by the Midland Railway in around 1866 and track was laid on it but, for unknown reasons, the junction to the Trent Valley Line appears to have never been completed. Some sources state that the tracks were lifted in 1878, but certainly it was listed on maps as being dismantled by 1901.^[6]

Since Tamworth was the crossing of two major lines – one Bristol to Newcastle, the other Euston to Aberdeen – it was an important transfer station for the Royal Mail, with upwards of 2,000 bags of mail being transferred between the two lines every night by the 1950s. Mail lifts were provided between the low and high level lines to facilitate the transfer.^[6]

There was a large water tower and pumping station at the east end of the low level, pumping water from the River Anker below.^[5]

The original station was demolished in 1961 and a new station, built in functional style was designed by the architects for the London Midland Region of British Railways, Maurice Wheeler, E.G. Girdlestone and J.B. Sanders.^[7] The rebuilt station opened in 1962 and, at the same time, the Trent Valley Line was electrified, requiring the High level line and platforms to be raised by two feet.^[8]

Accidents and incidents

Main article: Tamworth rail crash

• On 14 September 1870, a mail train was diverted into a siding due to a signalman's error. It crashed through the buffers and ended up in the River Anker. Three people were killed.^[9]

Layout

Tamworth high level platforms, looking north

There are four platforms.

On the low level (the West Coast Main Line):

• Platform 1 is a westbound platform for northward services towards North West England
• Platform 2 is an eastbound platform for southward services towards South East England

On the high level (on the Cross Country Route):

• Platform 3 is a northbound platform for services to the East Midlands, Yorkshire and Scotland;
• Platform 4 is a southbound platform for services to the West Midlands, South Wales and South West England.

Facilities

The main station building

The main buildings are adjacent to platform 1 and incorporate a ticket office (staffed seven days per week: 06:10 to 20:00 Mondays to Saturdays and 09:45 – 16:15 Sundays), customer service enquiry counter, photo booth, toilets, post box and a coffee shop. Two self-service ticket machines are sited on the station frontage for use when the ticket office is closed. Platform 2 only has a waiting shelter, whilst both high level platforms have waiting rooms. Train running information is provided via automatic announcements, CIS displays and timetable poster boards.^[10]

Both low-level platforms are directly linked with both high-level platforms by four staircases. All platforms are fully accessible for disabled passengers, as the two levels are also linked by three lifts. There is, however, no direct lift between platforms 2 and 3; step-free access between these platforms is only via platforms 1 and 4.^[10]

Services

Class 350 Desiro electric multiple unit at the Low Level platforms

Class 221 Voyager diesel-electric multiple unit at the High Level platforms

The station is served by three train operating companies, with the following typical weekday services:

Avanti West Coast

• 5 trains per day (tpd) to London Euston
• 3 tpd to Liverpool Lime Street, via Stafford and Runcorn
• 1 tpd to Preston
• 2 tpd to Holyhead, via Stafford
• 1 tpd to Wrexham General, via Stafford.^[11]

CrossCountry

• 2 tph (trains per hour) to Nottingham, via Derby
• 1 tph to Birmingham New Street
• 1 tph to Cardiff Central, via Birmingham New Street and Gloucester
• 1 tp2h to Edinburgh Waverley, via Derby, Sheffield, Leeds, York and Newcastle; 1 tpd extends to Glasgow Central
• 1 tp2h to Plymouth, via Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter St Davids; 1 tpd (train per day) extends to Penzance.^[12]

West Midlands Trains

Operating under the London Northwestern Railway branding, there are hourly semi-fast services in each direction between London Euston and Crewe, via Nuneaton, Rugby and Stafford. Some peak services call at Northampton.^[13]

Future services

It was planned that, from December 2023, Tamworth would begin to receive regular off-peak calls on Avanti services to and from Liverpool, along with Lichfield Trent Valley, using Hitachi trains.^[14] These would be hourly calling at Lichfield Trent Valley and Runcorn. The introduction of this service has not yet occurred, as of November 2024, as the Hitachi trains did not enter service until October 2024 for the Class 807 Evero electric multiple units, causing the introduction of the full hourly service to be delayed until 2025.^[15][16]

As part of the December 2024 timetable changes, on weekdays, two services from London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street will stop at Tamworth and Lichfield Trent Valley, instead of Rugby; one additional service to London Euston will stop at Tamworth and Lichfield Trent Valley. On Saturdays, three additional services from Liverpool to London will call at Tamworth and Lichfield, in the southbound direction only.^[17][18]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Wilnecote		CrossCountry Cardiff – Birmingham – Nottingham		Burton-on-Trent
Birmingham New Street		CrossCountry Scotland and the North East to the South West and South Coast		Derby
Lichfield Trent Valley towards Crewe		London Northwestern Railway London–Crewe		Atherstone towards London Euston
Lichfield Trent Valley		Avanti West Coast Liverpool – London		Nuneaton
				Milton Keynes Central
				London Euston
Lichfield Trent Valley		Avanti West Coast Manchester – London		Milton Keynes Central
Lichfield Trent Valley		Avanti West Coast North Wales – London		London Euston
		Avanti West Coast Lancaster/Preston – London
	Historical railways
Wilnecote Line and station open		Midland Railway Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway		Elford Line open, station closed