Worcester Foregate Street railway station

Worcester Foregate Street railway station, opened by the Great Western Railway in 1860, is situated in the centre of the city of Worcester, in Worcestershire, England. It is physically the smaller of the two stations serving the city, but is more centrally located. The other station is Worcester Shrub Hill situated to the east.

The station layout is unusual in that travelling east the two platforms serve different routes, rather than different directions. Platform 1 can only be accessed by trains via Worcester Shrub Hill (including trains to and from London Paddington), while Platform 2 can only be accessed by trains running directly to and from Kidderminster, avoiding Shrub Hill.

The station itself is built on a viaduct, meaning that space for expansion is restricted. Despite its small size, the remains of two signal boxes can be seen, one spanning the tracks and the second now the station cafe.

History
The station opened on the 17th May 1860. It was originally part of the Hereford and Worcester Railway which was incorporated into the West Midland Railway, before being absorbed by the Great Western Railway. On the 1st January 1948 the company became Government owned under British Rail.

The station celebrated its 150th birthday on 23 May 2010 with the unveiling of a plaque and a special train that ran to Great Malvern railway station (which celebrated its 150th Anniversary on the same date).

The art gallery Movement opened on platform 2 on 2 October 2010.

Services
The station is served by two train operating companies: London Midland (who manage the station) and First Great Western. London Midland operate services to Birmingham via two different routes, either direct to Birmingham New Street (via Bromsgrove), or via Kidderminster to Birmingham Snow Hill. First Great Western operate a service to London Paddington via the Cotswold Line and Oxford, a service to Bristol Temple Meads via Gloucester, and a twice-daily service to Southampton Central. Both companies have services which continue beyond Worcester to the two Malvern stations of Malvern Link and Great Malvern, and on to Hereford.