Birmingham Attractions

Birmingham New Street Station

Birmingham New Street railway station first began operations in 1852, with a formal opening in 1854.  It stands in the centre of Birmingham a major city in the west midlands of England.  Although there are four railway stations in Birmingham, New Street is the main railway station and is the second busiest station in the UK.

The station was designed by A.E. Coowper of Fox and Henderson & Co. and constructed by Messrs Fox, Henderson and Co.  The work began in 1846 to lasted until 1854. A massive glass and iron roof measuring approximately 65 meters by 250 meters spanned the magnificent building.  The station brought the joint operations of the Midland Railway and the North Western Railway together to replace the several termini, including the very busy Curzon Street terminus that operated in the City.

Extensions to the station were to begin all too soon after the original construction.  Due to the demand of ever popular rail travel and the trains towards Bristol having to reverse, trains began to build up in numbers passing through the station and a new underpass was built from Derby Junction to Grand Junction. Half a million pounds had now been spent to accommodate all the train services using this site, along with a second terminus designed by F. Stevenson a Chief Engineer of the LNWE, called the New Midland Rail station.  This new station consisted of two great trussed arches, both approximately 20 meters wide and 185 meters long.   A tunnel to the south was built in 1896.  In 1923 the various rail groups merged to form the London, Midland and Scottish Railways which became known as LMS.

Birmingham New Street station has suffered damage throughout the Blitz of World War II to the magnificent roof and the once regal Queen's hotel has been since demolished along with most of the original station.  The current New Street station has been re-built since 1966 and is now one of the busiest railway stations in the UK.  Approximately 15 million passengers use the station each year, most of which are local people of Birmingham.