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.

Trains from London, Stratford-upon-Avon and Kidderminster, and trams from Wolverhampton, 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 Railways line from London to Wolverhampton. The station was re-built in 1871 to accommodate longer trains.

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 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 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, and soon services to London Marylebone were re-started, along with many local services.

In the mid 1990s the line to Wolverhampton was re-opened as a tram line, and Snow Hill became the Birmingham terminus for the new Midland Metro[?] tram system.