Lichfield City
General information
Location	Lichfield, Lichfield District England
Grid reference	SK119091
Managed by	West Midlands Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	LIC
Classification	DfT category D
Key dates
1849	first station opened
3 November 1884	resited[1]
Passengers
2018/19	0.862 million
2019/20	0.828 million
2020/21	0.197 million
2021/22	0.488 million
2022/23	0.633 million
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Lichfield City is one of two railway stations serving the cathedral city of Lichfield, in Staffordshire, England. It is situated in the city-centre, and is towards the northern end of the Cross-City Line 17+1⁄4 miles (27.8 km) northeast of Birmingham New Street. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Railway. The other station serving Lichfield is Lichfield Trent Valley, on the city outskirts.

History

Early years

Lichfield City Station in 1849

The station opened in 1849, on the South Staffordshire Railway's line from Lichfield Trent Valley to Walsall and Dudley. This later became part of the London and North Western Railway. The architect for the South Staffordshire Railway was Mr Edward Adams of London and the station building built in 1849 was a modest creation in a Tudor style, with tall gables and chimneys.^[2] Services to Birmingham began in 1884, when a branch to Sutton Coldfield opened, connecting with an earlier LNWR line. This original station was demolished in 1882 when the present one was built to accommodate these additional services. The original station stood further east than the present one. It was approached from the city by a path which ran across Levett's Field and up some brick steps in front of the station, these can still be seen near the present Fire Station.^[2]

Recent history

The station platform

Passenger trains northwards via Trent Valley station to Burton-on-Trent ceased in January 1965, along with trains to Walsall so Lichfield City became the northern terminus of the line from Birmingham. This later became part of the Cross-City Line. In 1988 under British Rail, the line was extended back to Trent Valley. Lichfield City has retained considerable character.^[3]

The line to Walsall subsequently closed to all traffic in March 1984, except for the portion as far as Anglesey sidings (near Hammerwich), which was retained to serve a Charringtons oil terminal. Traffic from there ceased in 2002 and the line has been disused since then (though the track remains intact).

In June 1990 the station was in the news after a trainee soldier, William Robert Davies, aged 19, was shot and killed, and two other new recruits were wounded, whilst they were awaiting a train to Birmingham. They had been shot by two Provisional IRA gunmen.^[4] A plaque commemorating the incident is situated in the station.

The South Staffordshire Line

The South Staffordshire Line from Lichfield Trent Valley to Burton on Trent is often used for diversions (when the route via Tamworth is closed for engineering work), as well as for occasional freight trains and empty stock transfers.

In a strategy which has been conducted by the West Midlands Combined Authority. The line from Walsall to Lichfield has been identified as a disused rail corridor and this means that it is a long-term ambition to reopen the line from Walsall to Lichfield. As either a rail/light rail corridor, which considers the line to be reopened for either rail or tram trains. There is also aspirations to reconnect the disused line at Wednesbury to Walsall as either rail or tram.^[5]

Consideration is also being given to the reintroduction of trains to Burton and Derby. Services north of Lichfield City currently terminate at Lichfield Trent Valley, with the line beyond only used by freight, access to the Barton train maintenance depot, occasional CrossCountry services and as a diversionary route. A short term option may be a diesel shuttle service with longer-term ambitions to electrify the line and provide stations at Barton Under Needwood and Alrewas.^[6]

Facilities

The station has a staffed ticket office, located at street level on Station Road. This is open throughout the week from early morning until mid-evening. A self-service ticket machine is also provided in the ticket hall for use when the ticket office is closed or for collecting pre-paid tickets. At platform level, there are toilets and a waiting room. Customer help points, CIS displays and automated announcements provide train running information. Step-free access is available to both the ticket hall and platforms (the latter via lift from the subway).^[7]

Bridge

Immediately adjacent to the station is a bridge which carries the rail lines over the busy A51. The bridge is frequently struck by heavy goods traffic on the road below, forcing rail traffic to and from Shenstone to reduce speed over the bridge as a safety precaution. The bridge is the fourth most struck bridge in the country.^[8]

Services

The station is served by West Midlands Trains with local Transport for West Midlands branded "Cross-City" services, operated by Class 323 Electric multiple units.

The off-peak service pattern is as follows:

Sundays

On Sundays, there are trains every 30 minutes in each direction, southbound to Redditch, and northbound to Lichfield Trent Valley.^[10]

The average journey time to Lichfield Trent Valley is around 3 minutes with average journey times to Birmingham New Street being around 36 minutes.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Lichfield Trent Valley		West Midlands Railway Lichfield – Four Oaks – Birmingham – Bromsgrove/Redditch Cross-City Line		Shenstone
Terminus
Historical railways
Lichfield Trent Valley Line and station open		London and North Western Railway South Staffordshire line		Hammerwich Line and station closed

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lichfield City railway station.

• Train times and station information for Lichfield City railway station from National Rail

52°40′49″N 1°49′33″W / 52.68017°N 1.82571°W / 52.68017; -1.82571