Stafford railway station

Stafford railway station is the only railway station in Stafford, Staffordshire, England, and is the second busiest railway station in Staffordshire, after Stoke-on-Trent. The station serves the county town, as well as surrounding villages. The station lies on the junction of the Trent Valley Line and the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line.

Stafford station also formerly served the now defunct Stafford to Uttoxeter and Stafford to Shrewsbury Lines.

The current station building was built in 1962, and is the fourth station to have existed on this site. The interior of the station was refurbished in 2015, which allowed the station to have a new WH Smiths store, and an improved ticket office.

History


The first station was built by the Grand Junction Railway and opened in July 1837. It soon became inadequate and was replaced by a second station in 1844. A third station was built in 1862 which was eventually replaced by the current concrete Brutalist building in 1962, built as part of the modernisation programme which saw the electrification of the West Coast Main Line.

Lines originally built by the Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway and the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company (to Shrewsbury) also used the station. The Stafford to Uttoxeter line closed to passenger traffic in 1939, with the Shrewsbury line closing as part of the Beeching Axe in 1964.

Following the rebuilding of the station between 1961 and 1962 by the architect William Robert Headley, Isabel, a narrow gauge engine built by local firm W.G. Bagnall stood on a plinth on the opposite side of Station Road at the junction of Railway Street, until it was removed in the mid-1980s and is now on the Amerton Railway.

Incidents and accidents
Two accidents have happened at Stafford since 1990:
 * On 4 August 1990, an out-of-service train heading to a depot in Birmingham crashed into the back of an express train bound for Penzance on Platform 4 at Stafford station. The driver was killed and 36 people were injured.
 * On 8 March 1996, a mail train collided with a freight train carrying liquid carbon dioxide just south of Stafford. A mail sorter was killed and another 22 people were injured. The mail train locomotive was catapulted up the embankment and came to rest against a house.

Current facilities
Currently the station has many facilities which are typical of those across the Virgin Trains Network, such as a ticket office, toilets, car park, coffee shop, and newsagent.

Regular Services


From the south, two branches of the West Coast Main Line meet here: the Trent Valley Line and the Birmingham line. To the north, the trunk of the line continues towards Crewe, whilst the Manchester branch goes on to Stoke-on-Trent.

The station is currently served by three frequent operators (Virgin Trains, CrossCountry, and London North Western) and one less frequent operator Transport for Wales).

Usual off peak services at Stafford follow a pattern such as the one below:

Southbound rail services

 * 2tph to Birmingham New Street (semi-fast). Operated by London Northwestern Railway
 * 1tph to London Euston (semi-fast). Operated by London Northwestern Railway.
 * 1tph to London Euston only. Operated by Virgin Trains.
 * 1tph to Bournemouth via Coventry and Reading. Operated by CrossCountry.
 * 1tph to Norwich via Leicester and Peterborough. Operated by CrossCountry.
 * 1tph to Bristol Temple Meads, with some trains continuing to Paignton or Plymouth. Operated by CrossCountry.

Northbound rail services
Other services which do not operate on a regular basis are also present at Stafford, including other Virgin Trains services and Transport for Wales services.
 * 1tph to Liverpool Lime Street (fast).  Operated by Virgin Trains.
 * 1tph to Crewe via Stoke. Operated by London Northwestern Railway.
 * 2tph to Liverpool Lime Street (semi-fast). Operated by London Northwestern Railway.
 * 2tph to Manchester Piccadilly. Operated by CrossCountry.
 * 1tph to Birkenhead Central. Operated by CrossCountry.

Future services
Under current proposals, Stafford will be a part of the High Speed 2 network, via a 'Classic Compatible' junction, which will allow HS2 trains to operate to Stafford, and further on towards Liverpool. This would shorten journey time from Stafford to London, to an estimated 53 minutes. Under current proposals it is expected that an hourly services will operate in both directions, however it is currently unclear if these services will terminate at Stafford, or Liverpool.

As well as this, under current plans, the HS2 depot will be north of Stafford in Yarnfield.

There is also been proposals to reintroduce services to Stafford to terminate on the Chase Line which was cutback to Rugeley Trent Valley in 2008. The Key Corridors states "Extension of Chase Line services to Stafford". This is proposed to be in development.