Rugeley Trent Valley railway station



Rugeley Trent Valley is a railway station located on the outskirts of Rugeley in Staffordshire, England. It is one of two stations serving Rugeley, the other being Rugeley Town. The Trent Valley station is within the Colton parish, on the opposite side of the River Trent from the town of Rugeley. London Midland operates the station, and all trains serving it; a passenger-operated self-service ticket machine has been placed at the station entrance (which is on the southbound (Rugby-bound) platform).

It is a minor station on the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line. It is also the junction with the Chase Line from Birmingham and Walsall.

History
The main line had opened back in September 1847 and the station along with it. The line from Cannock was added by the Cannock Mineral Railway in 1859. On 25 May 1998 the Chase Line was extended back into Rugeley Trent Valley from Birmingham New Street & Walsall. Services had previously been withdrawn in January 1965, as a result of the Beeching Axe.

From the mid-1960s until 1998, it was served only by local stopping trains between Stafford & either Rugby or (from 1987) Coventry - these were withdrawn in 2004 when work began to upgrade the main line to four tracks, with bus replacements operating until London Midland introduced the present semi-fast service between London Euston & Crewe via Stafford in 2008.

The station was the location of The Queen's naming of Class 67 locomotive No. 67029 Royal Diamond, marking her diamond wedding anniversary with Prince Phillip, 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. 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 however platform 1 is only electrified for a short distance outside the station at present (though this will change when the Chase Line is electrified in the next few years).

Rugeley Trent Valley is unstaffed but does have a ticket machine and a PERTIS machine at the entrance, as the Penalty fare scheme operates here. Intending passengers must buy a ticket or permit to travel before boarding.

Services
Rugeley Trent Valley is managed by London Midland who operate all the train services.

Chase Line
The station is served by a local service to/from Walsall and Birmingham on the Chase Line which run 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 have all been cut back to terminate at Rugeley Trent Valley.

West Coast Main Line
London Midland operate an hourly service, southbound to London Euston and northbound Crewe via Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent.

Virgin Trains services between London Euston - North West England do not call at Rugeley Trent Valley. This is due to the low passenger numbers compared to other Trent Valley stations. The platforms are not long enough to accommodate Class 390s which Virgin Trains operate.