Birmingham International railway station

Birmingham International railway station is located in the borough of Solihull, just east of the city of Birmingham in England.

The station is on the West Coast Main Line 14 km (8½ miles) east of Birmingham New Street and serves both Birmingham International Airport and the National Exhibition Centre. The railway station lies next to the M42 motorway. The 'International' in its name refers to the airport, not to an international railway service. The station opened on 26 January 1976 and has regular train services to many parts of the country.

Services
Virgin Trains
 * 3tph to London Euston.
 * 2tph to Birmingham New Street.
 * 1tph to Wolverhampton via Birmingham New Street.

CrossCountry
 * 1tph to Manchester Piccadilly.
 * 1tph to Bournemouth.

London Midland
 * 4tph to Birmingham New Street.
 * 1tph to London Euston via Northampton.
 * 1tph to Northampton.
 * 1tph to Coventry.

Arriva Trains Wales
 * 1tph to Shrewsbury, of which:
 * 1tp2h continues to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli after dividing at Machynlleth.
 * 1tp2h continues to Holyhead via Wrexham General and Chester.

Connection to Birmingham International Airport


A maglev service ran from the airport terminal to the Birmingham International railway station from 1984 until 1995. The train "flew" at an altitude of 15 mm over a track 620m in length. It operated for nearly 11 years, but was scrapped because spare parts for the system were no longer available. It was temporarily replaced by a bus.

The chosen replacement system, the DCC Doppelmayr Cable Car Cable Liner Shuttle, was announced in late 2000 and construction started in 2001. Although construction was essentially completed by early 2002, delays to start of construction of the new Interchange at the railway station end meant it was not possible to open the system until March 2003 when the Interchange was completed. The system was originally known as SkyRail but in 2004 it was renamed AirRail Link.

The international airport can also be reached via a dedicated fast bus service from Coleshill Parkway station, on the Birmingham to Peterborough Line; the buses run four times per hour and the journey takes around fifteen minutes.

Connection to the National Exhibition Centre
Under cover walkways, escalators and Travelators connect the NEC buildings to the Birmingham International railway station and to the Air-Rail Link, which in turn connects to Birmingham International Airport.

High Speed 2
The March 2010 report proposes that a new "Birmingham Interchange" station would be built on the other side of the M42 motorway from the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham International Airport and this station. The new interchange would be connected by a "rapid transit people mover" to the other sites; the AirRail Link people mover already operates between Birmingham International station and the airport.