Smethwick Galton Bridge railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Smethwick Galton Bridge


manager = London Midland
locale = Smethwick
borough = Sandwell
pte = West Midlands
zone = 2
code = SGB
lowusage0405 = 88,782
lowusage0506 = 102,692
lowusage0607 = 116,401
platforms = 4
years = 1995
events = Opened

Smethwick Galton Bridge is a railway station in Smethwick, West Midlands, England.

The station is situated where two lines cross at different levels: the line from Birmingham Snow Hill to Stourbridge Junction crosses over the Stour valley line by means of a bridge. There are four platforms, two on each line. London Midland manage the station and operate almost all of its services, with limited services also operated by Chiltern Railways.

The present station opened in 1995 when the line from Birmingham Snow Hill reopened, replacing the nearby Smethwick West station. In 2005/6, 481,000 people changed trains at Smethwick Galton Bridge, 4.7 times the amount that began or ended journeys at the station, making it the busiest station in Smethwick. Without interchanges it is normally slightly less busy than the more centrally located Smethwick Rolfe Street, though that was not the case in the 2006/07 statistics. [cite web|title=Station usage - : Office of Rail Regulation |url=http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1529]

ervices

The high level platforms are served by London Midland Class 150 trains to Birmingham Snow Hill and Moor Street every 10 minutes off-peak, with a journey time of 10 minutes to Snow Hill. Trains commence from Great Malvern, Worcester Foregate Street or Kidderminster and continue to Dorridge or Shirley. One train per hour operates to Stratford-upon-Avon. [cite web|title=London Midland - Timetables|url=http://www.londonmidland.com/index.php/timetables/timetables/page] Additionally, 6 Chiltern Railways services from Kidderminster to London Marylebone (and 5 return) stop here in the morning and evening peaks. [cite web|title=Chiltern Railways - Download Our Timetable|url=http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/plan-your-journey/download-our-timetable/]

The low level platforms are served by a half-hourly local service between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton.

There are four other services that call here throughout the day:

* An early morning London Midland Express service, which serves all stations to Liverpool Lime Street.
* A morning peak London Midland Express service, which starts at Stafford railway station and terminates at Birmingham New Street, calling at all intermediate stations.
* An evening peak London Midland service to Shrewsbury (which calls only at Galton Bridge, Sandwell and Dudley and Dudley Port before forming a normal Shrewsbury service from Wolverhampton).
* A late-evening Express service to Crewe railway station, serving all stations.
* Smethwick Galton Bridge will be served hourly by Arriva Trains Wales services between Chester / Aberystwyth and Birmingham International from December 2008.
* From December 2008, Galton Bridge will be served by an hourly service to Liverpool Lime Street, operated by London Midland.
* Galton Bridge is also served by Wrexham and Shropshire when Tame Bridge Parkway is inaccessible for any reason.

References

External links

*stn art lnk|SGB|B661HU
* [http://www.railaroundbirmingham.co.uk/Stations/smethwick_galton_bridge.php Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Smethwick Galton Bridge station]

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