Five Ways railway station

Template:Short descriptionTemplate:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Template other Five Ways railway station is a railway station serving the Five Ways and Lee Bank areas of Birmingham, England. It is situated on the Cross-City Line.

The original Five Ways station operated between 1885 and 1944. The station was reopened in 1978 when the Cross-City line services were created.

History

File:LMS Birmingham to Five Ways train ticket 1927.jpg

LMS Birmingham to Five Ways train ticket, issued on 17 May 1927

The original station was opened in 1885 by the Midland Railway, when the Birmingham West Suburban Railway (BWSR) was extended into Birmingham New Street. It fell prey to competition from local bus services, and services were suspended in 1944, as a wartime economy measure, under the auspices of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. The closure was made permanent by British Railways in 1950.

Alongside the station was the spur line leading to Template:Rws station. The junction to this line was just south of Five Ways. The spur was part of the original alignment of the BWSR, leading to its original terminus at Template:Rws. Following the closure of Granville Street in 1885, the spur line was extended to run to Central Goods station, which remained open until the late 1960s.

Reopening

The station was rebuilt and reopened in 1978 to the designs of the architect John Broome as part of the creation of the Cross-City Line services. Built with its main entrance on Islington Row Middleway. British Rail also carried out electrification of the lines through the station in 1993.

Ticket barriers were installed at the start of 2009 and became operational shortly before the end of April in the same year.

The station achieved a milestone in 2009–10 by having over 1 million "entries and exits", according to the Office of Rail and Road’s station usage estimates.

Local attractions

Five Ways is the nearest railway station to Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston Cricket Ground and the Birmingham Oratory.

Services

The station is served by West Midlands Trains with local Transport for West Midlands branded "Cross-City" services, operated using Template:Brc Electric multiple units (EMUs) until September 2024 and currently by Template:Brc EMUs.

The off-peak service pattern is as follows:

Mondays to Saturdays:

• 4 trains per hour (tph) northbound to Template:Rws via Template:Rws and Template:Rws, departing from Platform 1.
  • Of which:
    • 2 tph continue to Template:Rws via Template:Rws, calling at all stations except Template:Rws.
• 4 tph southbound to Template:Rws via Template:Rws, departing from Platform 2.
  • Of which:
    • 2 tph continue to Template:Rws via Template:Rws.
    • 2 tph continue to Template:Rws, 1tph does not call at Template:Rws.

Sundays:

• 2 tph northbound to Lichfield Trent Valley.
• 2 tph southbound to Redditch.
• 1 tph northbound to Birmingham New Street only.
• 1 tph southbound to Bromsgrove.

Services on Sundays call at all stations between Lichfield T.V. and Redditch and all stations between Bromsgrove and Birmingham New Street.

Preceding station	National Rail National Rail			Following station
Template:Rws	style="background:#Template:WMT colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;" |	West Midlands Railway Lichfield – Four Oaks – Birmingham – Bromsgrove/Redditch Cross-City Line	style="background:#Template:WMT colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;" |	Template:Rws

Connections

The station is an interchange for trams at Five Ways tram stop on the West Midlands Metro, which is approximately away, roughly an eight minute walk.

External links

• Train times and station information for Five Ways railway station from National Rail
• Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Five Ways railway station
• Railways of Warwickshire entry