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Birmingham International railway station

Birmingham International is a railway station in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England; it lies just east of Birmingham. It serves Birmingham Airport, the National Exhibition Centre, the Resorts World Arena and Resorts World Birmingham. It lies on the Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line, east of .

History

The station was designed by the architect Ray Moorcroft and opened on 26 January 1976; it has regular train services to many parts of the country. It was named Birmingham International after the adjacent airport, which had that name at the time. A large space under the overbridge next to the southbound platforms suggests an allowance for future station expansion.

In 2016, it was proposed to rename it to Birmingham Airport & NEC, due to the airport's name change and its presence near to the National Exhibition Centre.

Services

It has five platforms, consisting of two islands and one side platform numbered 1–5 from south to north.

The station is served by four train operating companies, with the following basic Monday to Saturday off-peak service in trains per hour/day.

Avanti West Coast:

  • 2 tph , via
  • 2 tph to
  • 1 tp2h to , via and
  • 1 tp2h to , via Wolverhampton and Preston

CrossCountry:

  • 1 tph to , via and
  • 1 tph to , via Coventry and .

Transport for Wales:

  • 1 tph to , of which:
  • 1 tp2h continues to and , after dividing at
  • 1 tp2h continues to , via and .

West Midlands Trains:

London Northwestern Railway

  • 2 tph to London Euston, via
  • 2 tph to Birmingham New Street

West Midlands Railway

  • 2 tph to , via Birmingham New Street and

Caledonian Sleeper

  • 1 tpd to London Euston
  • 1 tpd to // (departs as a single train and divides at Edinburgh Waverley into three portions for each destination).

Connection to Birmingham Airport

A maglev service ran from the airport terminal to the station from 1984 until 1995. The train "flew" at an altitude of 15 mm over a track 620 m in length. It operated for nearly 11 years, but was scrapped because spare parts for the system were no longer available. It was temporarily replaced by a bus.

The chosen replacement system, the Doppelmayr Cable Car Cable Liner shuttle, was announced in late 2000 and construction started in 2001. The Interchange was opened in March 2003. The system was known originally as SkyRail but, in 2004, it was renamed AirRail Link.

The airport can also be reached via a dedicated fast bus service from Coleshill Parkway station, on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line.

Connection to the National Exhibition Centre

Undercover walkways, escalators and travelators connect the NEC buildings to the station and to the Air-Rail Link which, in turn, connects to Birmingham Airport.

Birmingham Interchange

A new Birmingham Interchange station is to be built on the other side of the M42 motorway on the High Speed 2 rail line. The new interchange will be connected to the station by an automated people mover, as well as to the airport and National Exhibition Centre; the AirRail Link people mover already operates between Birmingham International station and the airport.

References

External links