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Cradley Heath  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| General information | |||||
| Location | Cradley Heath,Sandwell England | ||||
| Grid reference | SO939857 | ||||
| Managed by | West Midlands Trains | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | CRA | ||||
| Classification | DfT category E | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 1863 | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2020/21 |  0.178 million | ||||
| 2021/22 |  0.468 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.539 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.627 million | ||||
| 2024/25 | 0.719 million | ||||
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Cradley Heath railway station serves the town ofCradley Heath in theWest Midlands ofEngland. It is on theBirmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster line. The station is managed byWest Midlands Railway, who provide the majority of train services; there are also occasional services provided byChiltern Railways.
Cradley Heath bus station is right in front of the railway station; together they formCradley Heath Interchange.
The station was opened in 1863 by theStourbridge Railway, on their line fromStourbridge Junction toOld Hill. This was later taken over by theGreat Western Railway, who incorporated it into their line toBirmingham. Historically, the station was known asCradley, and later asCradley Heath and Cradley.
The present station buildings date from the mid-1980s when the station was rebuilt entirely on the west side of the level crossing. Previously there had been a staggered platform arrangement on either side of the crossing.
Following an incident on 7 October 1954, lamp-manAnthony Rivers was awarded theGeorge Medal and theOrder of Industrial Heroism. Rivers had gone to assist a woman whose foot was caught in a level crossing between the station's platforms. As a train bore down on them, he realised he could not free her, so held her away from the tracks and the train severed her foot. In doing so, he suffered afractured pelvis and a broken forearm.[1][2][3]
The Monday to Saturday off-peak service sees trains approximately every 15 minutes in each direction, operated by West Midlands Trains.[4][5]
Eastbound:
Westbound:
Chiltern Railways also serve the station with one train to Stourbridge Junction at weekday nighttime only, fromLondon Marylebone. A morning service to Marylebone runs on Sunday mornings only.[6]
Regular direct services to and fromBirmingham New Street (the terminus for all eastbound trains between 1967 and the reopening of the line to Snow Hill in 1995) ceased in May 2004 and passengers wishing to travel there must now change atGalton Bridge.[7]
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Midlands Railway | ||||
| West Midlands Railway | ||||
| Chiltern Railways | ||||
Alongside the railway station there is a bus station with five bus stands, which opened during the 1980s. The bus station was extensively rebuilt from 2014 to 2015,[8] and reopened in July 2015 as Cradley Heath Interchange. The bus station is owned and operated byTransport for West Midlands[9] which charges operators for their usage. Services are operated byNational Express West Midlands andDiamond Bus. The formerMidland Red bus depot stands across the road from the interchange and is now Hawks Cycles.[10]
The porter, Tony Rivers, of 132, Park Road, Netherton, Dudley, was taken unconscious to Dudley Guest Hospital with head and leg injuries.[permanent dead link]
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