Rugeley Town railway station

Rugeley Town
Location
Place	Rugeley
Local authority	Cannock Chase
Coordinates	52°45′14″N 1°56′13″W / 52.754°N 1.937°WCoordinates: 52°45′14″N 1°56′13″W / 52.754°N 1.937°W
Grid reference	SK043174
Operations
Station code	RGT
Managed by	London Midland
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	117,104
2011/12	151,106
2012/13	138,986
2013/14	145,370
2014/15	132,554
History
Original company	London and North Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
1 June 1870	opened
18 January 1965	closed
1997	reopened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Rugeley Town from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Rugeley Town railway station serves the town of Rugeley in Staffordshire, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland.

History

The station was originally opened by the London and North Western Railway on 1 June 1870.^[1] The station, together with all those on the line between Walsall and Rugeley, were closed on 18 January 1965^[1] as part of the Beeching Axe, although the line remained open as freight-only. The station closed to goods on 6 September 1965.

It re-opened in 1997, as the second stage of the reopening to passengers of the Chase Line saw the extension of services beyond Hednesford. The following year, the short section of track between Rugeley Town and Rugeley Trent Valley stations was also reopened, allowing services to be extended via the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line to Stafford (though through running there ended at the December 2008 timetable change).

In April 2011, the area was still mechanically signalled from the Brereton Sidings signal box immediately south of the station on the east side of the line (the sidings are no longer extant, though there is still an active rail connection to the adjacent coal-fired Rugeley power stations), but the box closed in 2013 (along with neighbouring Hednesford & Bloxwich boxes and the PSB at Walsall) as part of the ongoing West Midlands re-signalling scheme.^[2] Control passed to the West Midlands Signalling Centre at Saltley, though in the long term the WCML South Rail Operating Centre at Rugby will have responsibility for this part of the country.

Services

On Monday to Friday, there is an hourly service in the daytime northbound to Rugeley Trent Valley and southbound to Walsall and Birmingham New Street. This service frequency also applies in the evenings and on Sundays.^[3] At peak periods and all day Saturday daytime, there are two departures per hour each way - this was the basic daytime weekday frequency on the route for several years in the mid-to-late 2000s, but it reverted to just one per hour at the December 2010 timetable change.

References

1. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 201. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
2. End of the Line for 38 Signal Boxes www.expressandstar.com news article; Retrieved 17 September 2013
3. GB National Rail Timetable 2015-16 - Table 70, Birmingham - Walsall and Rugeley

Further reading

• "Central Trains extends services to Rugeley". RAIL. No. 307 (EMAP Apex Publications). 18 June – 1 July 1997. p. 8. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.

External links

• Train times and station information for Rugeley Town railway station from National Rail

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Rugeley Trent Valley		London Midland Chase Line		Hednesford