University (Birmingham) railway station

University railway station is a railway station serving the University of Birmingham and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the West Midlands of England. It is situated on the Cross-City Line which runs from Redditch to Lichfield via Birmingham New Street. Most services are operated by London Midland who manage the station, with some services also operated by CrossCountry.

History
Located on the former Birmingham West Suburban Railway, University station was built in 1978 as part of the upgrade of the Cross-City line. Although this was the first station on the site, it is located a short distance away from the former Somerset Road Station which was closed in the 1930s due to poor patronage. The Cross-City Line was electrified in 1993 and the current Class 323 electric multiple units were introduced on local services.

Facilities
Pedestrian access is via University Road West, close to the Medical School and bus interchange - around 330 yd uphill from University Square. Due to the station's campus location on a service road there is no car parking, although nearby Selly Oak station is a designated Park and Ride station. The station is also situated alongside the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, a popular cycling and jogging route. Access is at street level as there is a fence between Platform 2 and the towpath.

The station is the only main line railway station in Great Britain built specifically to serve a university. There is a shop on Platform 1 towards Birmingham, selling drinks and snacks, and a covered waiting room on Platform 2. There are also two automated ticket machines on the concourse and two windowed ticket booths, staffed all day Monday to Saturday and from 9:20 on Sundays. There is lift access down to both platforms from the entrance. Fare control is enforced by a line of automatic ticket barriers installed in April 2009, as at Five Ways.

Services
The station is served by London Midland with local Cross-City Line services operated by 3- or 6-car Class 323 electrical multiple units. London Midland's longer-distance services to Hereford and CrossCountry services to Cardiff and Nottingham are operated by air-conditioned Turbostar diesel multiple units.

University station is the sixth busiest station in the Network West Midlands region in terms of passenger numbers, and the busiest without a direct link to London. Just over two million tickets were sold to and from the station in the year 2009-10.

Typical off-peak weekday service is as follows, in trains per hour (tph):

Platform 1 (Northbound)
All services from Platform 1 stop at Birmingham New Street with an average journey time of 8 minutes.


 * 2tph to Four Oaks, calling at all stations except Duddeston, operated by London Midland.
 * 2tph to Lichfield City, calling at all stations, operated by London Midland.
 * 2tph to Lichfield Trent Valley, calling at all stations except Shenstone and Duddeston, operated by London Midland.
 * 1tph to Birmingham New Street only, operated by London Midland.
 * 1tph to Nottingham, operated by CrossCountry.

Platform 2 (Southbound)

 * 4tph to Longbridge, calling at all stations, operated by London Midland.
 * 2tph to Redditch, calling at all stations, operated by London Midland.
 * 1tph to Hereford, calling at Bromsgrove, Droitwich Spa, Worcester Foregate Street and then all stations to Hereford, operated by London Midland. Two of these services also stop at Barnt Green
 * 1tph to Cardiff Central, calling at Cheltenham Spa, Gloucester, Newport and Cardiff Central, operated by CrossCountry. Sometimes these trains also call at Bromsgrove and Ashchurch for Tewkesbury.

Disabled access
There is level access from the street to the ticket office and footbridge. Lifts provide access to both platforms from the footbridge. The station has a wide ticket gate which wheelchair users can use unaided.