Five Ways railway station

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


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 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.

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 by and  Electric multiple units.

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.

Connections
The station is an interchange for trams at Five Ways tram stop on the West Midlands Metro, which is approximately 0.4 mile away, roughly an eight minute walk.