Five Ways railway station

 

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.^[2] The closure was made permanent by British Railways in 1950.^[3]

Alongside the station was the spur line leading to Central Goods 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 Granville Street. 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.^[4]

The station was rebuilt and reopened in 1978 to the designs of the architect John Broome^[5] as part of the creation of the Cross-City Line services. Built with its main entrance on Islington Row Middleway.^[4] British Rail also carried out electrification of the lines through the station in 1993.^{[citation needed]}

Ticket barriers were installed at the start of 2009 and became operational shortly before the end of April in the same year.^{[citation needed]}

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.

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

The station is served by West Midlands Trains with local Transport for West Midlands branded "Cross-City" services, operated by Class 323 and Class 730 Electric multiple units.^[6][7]

The off-peak service pattern is as follows:

Mondays to Saturdays:

• 4 trains per hour (tph) northbound to Four Oaks via Birmingham New Street and Sutton Coldfield, departing from Platform 1.
  • Of which:
    • 2 tph continue to Lichfield Trent Valley via Lichfield City, calling at all stations except Duddeston.
• 4 tph southbound to Longbridge via University, departing from Platform 2.
  • Of which:
    • 2 tph continue to Redditch via Alvechurch.
    • 2 tph continue to Bromsgrove, 1tph does not call at Barnt Green.

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.^[8][9]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Birmingham New Street		West Midlands Railway Lichfield – Four Oaks – Birmingham – Bromsgrove/Redditch Cross-City Line		University

The station is an interchange for trams at Five Ways tram stop on the West Midlands Metro, which is approximately 0.4 miles (0.64 km) away, roughly an eight minute walk.^[10]

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Five Ways railway station.

• 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