Four Oaks railway station

History

The station opened in 1884, when the London and North Western Railway's line from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield was extended to Lichfield. More recently, in May 1978, Four Oaks became the northern terminus of the newly inaugurated Cross-City Line from via Birmingham New Street, with trains running up to every ten minutes in each direction.

The line to the north towards Lichfield City had a less frequent service to begin with, as Lichfield being outside the West Midlands PTE boundary; the growing popularity of the route led to it gaining additional services by the mid-1980s. Eventually, the line was extended to Lichfield Trent Valley in November 1988. Electric train operation at the station commenced in 1992, with services running as far as New Street, with the full line through to Redditch following suit in July 1993.

Four Oaks remains a terminus for some services from the south, which mostly use the bay platform 3 on the eastern side of the station to turn back. Northbound trains continuing to Lichfield use platform 1 and southbound ones from there use platform 2, though this can also be used for terminating trains from the south.

Facilities

The station has a staffed ticket office on the eastern island platform, which is open seven days per week (Monday - Friday 06:00-20:00, Saturday 07:00-20:00, Sunday 09:00-16:00). Ticket machines are available on platforms 1 and 2/3 for use outside these times and for collecting pre-paid tickets. Train running information is provided by customer help points, timetable posters, automated announcements and CIS displays. Step-free access is available to all three platforms.

Services

The station is served by West Midlands Trains, with local Transport for West Midlands-branded Cross-City services, operated using electric multiple units.

The off-peak service pattern is as follows:

Mondays to Saturdays:

• 2tph (trains per hour) northbound to , via , departing from platform 1.
• 4tph southbound to via , and ; of which:
  • 2tph continue to via , calling at all stations. These start here from platform 3.
  • 2tph continue to calling at all stations, except and 1tph does not call at . These depart from platform 2.

Sundays:

• 2tph northbound to Lichfield Trent Valley.
• 2tph southbound to Redditch.

Services on Sundays call at all stations between Lichfield T.V. and Redditch.

The average journey time to Birmingham New Street is around 24 minutes.

References

Citations

Sources

• An Historical Survey Of Selected LMS Stations Vol. One Dr R Preston and R Powell Hendry. Oxford Pub. Co. (1982, Reprinted in 2001)

References

1. [https://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Cross-City-Line---Birmingham "Cross City Line - Birmingham"]''Goegraph.org'' article; Retrieved 27 October 2016
2. "Four Oaks station facilities".
3. "Class 730 fleet". West Midlands Railway.
4. "Train timetables and schedules".
5. "Train Timetables and Schedules {{!}} Four Oaks".
6. "The Cross City Line: Lichfield Trent Valley – Four Oaks – Sutton Coldfield – Birmingham – University – Bromsgrove / Redditch {{!}} Timetable from Sunday 15 December 2024 until 17 May 2025".