Rugeley Trent Valley is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

serving the market town of

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is north of Lichfield, southeast of Stafford, northeast of ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is one of two stations serving Rugeley, the other being . It is on the eastern side of the town close to the Rugeley Trent Valley Trading Estate and located close to the River Trent.

West Midlands Trains West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a British train operating company. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trading names: within the West Midlands region as West Midlands Rai ...

operate the station, and all trains serving it. It is a minor station on the

Trent Valley The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

section of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

. It is also the terminus of the

Chase Line The Chase Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs from its southern terminus, , to , and then in Staffordshire, where it joins the Trent Valley line. The name of the line refers to Cannock Chase which ...

from

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

Rugeley Trent Valley railway station 2060892 16747295

History

The station opened in September 1847 at the same time as the line. The line from was added by the

Cannock Mineral Railway The Cannock Mineral Railway was a railway company that built a line from Cannock (Staffordshire,) to join the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) at Rugeley, in England. It was conceived and authorised as the Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Wor ...

in 1859. Services on the Chase Line were withdrawn in January 1965, as a result of the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

, and reinstated on 25 May 1998 when the line was extended back into Rugeley Trent Valley from and . From the mid-1960s until 1998, it was served only by local stopping trains between and either or (from 1987) – these were withdrawn in 2004 when work began to upgrade the main line to four tracks, with bus replacements operating until

London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Gov ...

introduced the present semi-fast service between

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; or London Euston) is a major central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station managed by Network Rail in the London Borough of Camden. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line ...

and via Stafford in 2008. The station was the location of Queen Elizabeth II's naming of locomotive No. 67029 ''Royal Diamond'', marking her diamond wedding anniversary with

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

, on 12 October 2007.

Layout

Rugeley Trent Valley has three platforms with Platform 3 located at the main entrance and Platforms 1 and 2 located on an

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

. Platform 1 is bi-directional which is used for terminating services from where as Platform 2 is used for northbound services to while Platform 3 is used for southbound services to . Between Platforms 2 and 3 there are two fast lines for non-stop services. All platforms are electrified. Rugeley Trent Valley is unstaffed but does have a ticket machine and a

PERTIS In the Ticket (admission), ticketing system of the Rail transport in Great Britain, British rail network, a Permit to Travel provisionally allows passengers to travel on a train when they have not purchased a ticket in advance and the ticket offi ...

machine at the entrance, as the

Penalty fare A penalty fare, standard fare, or fixed penalty notice is a special, usually higher, fare charged because a passenger using public transport did not comply with the normal ticket purchasing rules. It should not be confused with an unpaid fares ...

scheme operates here. Intending passengers must buy a ticket or permit to travel before boarding.

Services

Rugeley Trent Valley is managed by

who operate all services calling at the station.

Chase Line

The station is served by trains operated by

West Midlands Railway West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a British train operating company. It operates passenger trains on the Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain, West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trading names: within t ...

on the

from Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International. In the May 2023 timetable, Rugeley Trent Valley is served by half-hourly services on the Chase Line calling at all local stations to followed by and before calling at all local stations on its way to terminate at . On matchdays at

Bescot Stadium Bescot Stadium, currently known as the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in the area of Bescot, Walsall, West Midlands, England, and is the current home ground of Walsall Football Club and Aston Vill ...

and

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

services often make additional calls at , and . Services run hourly on Sundays. From 2008 to 2019 these ran half-hourly during peak times and hourly during off peak times on weekdays, half-hourly on Saturdays and hourly on Sundays. These services used to be extended to terminate at Stafford, but as of the December 2008 timetable changes these services were all cut back to terminate at Rugeley Trent Valley. The Chase Line saw a major timetable reorganisation in May 2019, coinciding the completion of electrification. Services ran half-hourly throughout the day, and initially trains alternated in terminating at Birmingham International and

via Birmingham, Coventry, Northampton and Milton Keynes. The service was simplified by 2021, with all Chase line services to and from Rugeley Trent Valley being West Midlands Railway services terminating at Birmingham New Street, calling at all stations north of and including Walsall, but only stopping at Tame Bridge Parkway south of there. The frequency remained at 2tph on Mondays to Saturdays, while on Sundays services ran hourly.

West Coast Main Line

London Northwestern Railway operates an hourly service northbound to via and southbound to via , and using the Trent Valley Line. Most services on this route run fast between Rugby and with occasional stops at in the peak. Intercity

Avanti West Coast First Trenitalia West Coast Rail, trading name, trading as Avanti West Coast, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership. In November 2016, the Department for Tra ...

services between London Euston and

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

do not call at Rugeley Trent Valley, due to the low passenger numbers compared to other Trent Valley stations as well as short platforms which do not accommodate the tilting Class 390 Pendolino or Class 805/

807 __NOTOC__ Year 807 ( DCCCVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 807th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 807th year of the 1st millennium, the 7th year of the 9th century, and the ...

Evero trains Avanti West Coast operate.

References

External links

{{coord, 52.770, N, 1.930, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Lichfield District Railway stations in Staffordshire DfT Category F1 stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1847 Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains Rugeley 1847 establishments in England Stations on the West Coast Main Line