Blakedown railway station

Blakedown
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Location
Place	Blakedown
Local authority	Wyre Forest
Grid reference	SO880787
Operations
Station code	BKD
Managed by	London Midland
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	28,311
2005/06	40,636
2006/07	53,365
2007/08	61,109
2008/09	70,946
2009/10	85,166
2010/11	76,114
2011/12	83,314
2012/13	83,008
2013/14	89,252
2014/15	91,698
History
1852 ? ?	Opened as Churchill Renamed Churchill and Blakedown Renamed to current name
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Blakedown from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Blakedown railway station serves the English village of Blakedown, Worcestershire. It was opened (as Churchill station) in 1852, and was later known as Churchill & Blakedown before adopting its current name (the signal box still uses the old name, as shown above).

File:Churchill & Blakedown Signal Box.jpg

The signal box

The station is unstaffed, with only a basic shelter on each platform. There is a level crossing immediately to the west of the platforms, and in the absence of a footbridge or subway this is also the only method for passengers to cross the tracks.

The platforms were lengthened in the 1990s to allow longer trains to call (see image - the hollow space and the white fence mark the extension). This is because Blakedown is within the Birmingham commuter band and usage increased.

All trains serving Blakedown are now operated by London Midland. As of the summer 2006 timetable, the only other operator's train to stop at the station was a single Chiltern Railways Kidderminster-London service which called in the morning rush hour - this however no longer does so. Trains run every 30 minutes each way, with off-peak trains terminating at Kidderminster westbound & eastbound services running alternately to Dorridge and Whitlocks End. There is a two-hourly service from the station each way on Sundays.

File:Blakedown station geograph-3937559-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

The station in 1983

Since August 2012 the signalling system has been altered, with the former signal box having been abolished and control of the nearby crossing & signals transferred to the West Midlands SCC at Saltley.

External links

• Train times and station information for Blakedown railway station from National Rail
• Rail Around Birmingham and the West Midlands: Blakedown station

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Hagley		London Midland Leamington-Worcester		Kidderminster
Hagley		Chiltern Railways London-Kidderminster		Kidderminster