Birmingham Snow Hill station

Birmingham Snow Hill station is a railway station located in the centre of Birmingham, England. Snow Hill station is the second most important railway station in Birmingham after New Street station, and is the Birmingham terminus of the West Midlands tram system, the Midland Metro.

Trains from London, Stratford-upon-Avon and Kidderminster, and trams from Wolverhampton (via Wednesbury and West Bromwich), terminate at Snow Hill station.

The train services into the station are run by Chiltern Railways and Central Trains.

History

The original station was opened in 1852 as the Birmingham terminus of the Great Western Railway (GWR) line from London (Paddington) to Wolverhampton Low Level Station. Snow Hill was re-built in 1871 to accommodate longer trains.

Trains arriving from the south first pass through Snow Hill Tunnel, built by the cut-and-cover method, with Great Western (shopping) Arcade running above the northern end.

The station had an uneventful existence for many years until the 1960s. As a part of the Beeching axe closures programme of that decade, it was decided that Snow Hill station was an unnecesary duplication, and that there only needed to be one station in Birmingham.

Snow Hill was recommended for closure as part of a general cost-cutting exercise, and all the train services into Snow Hill were to be diverted into the former- LMS New Street Station.

The express services from Snow Hill to London were discontinued, and local services were gradually diverted or discontinued.

The station was graduallly run down, until it was closed completely, and largely demolished in 1974. The line to Wolverhampton was also closed.

The station site was for many years used as a car park.

Re-Birth

By the mid 1980s New Street Station was severely congested, and British Rail decided to re-open Snow Hill station to relieve this congestion.

The new, re-built Snow Hill station opened in 1987, with some of the remaining parts of the original station being lost (e.g. the old parcels office) and others incorporated (notably the now- sealed entrance, with GWR crest, in Livery Street). Soon services to London Marylebone were re-started, along with many local services. The new station, with a multi- storey car park above it, has been widely criticised as draughty, unwelcoming and architecturally unimaginative.

In 1995, services north to Smethwick, and onwards to Worcester, were resumed.

In 1999 the line to Wolverhampton was re-opened as a light- rail or tram line.

In 2003, the original gates and booking hall sign from Snow Hill were incorporated into a redveloped Moor Street Station, at the other end of Snow Hill tunnel.