THE extensive rebuild of Birmingham’s busy University station has been completed, and the new buildings – ready to cater for an estimated 3.5 million passengers a year – opened on January 28.
The original station dates from 1978 and was designed for around 500,000 passengers per year, but expansion and growth of both the University of Birmingham and nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital overwhelmed the existing facilities.
The new station – the first and only built to specifically serve a university – will also be able handle up to 7.2 million passengers annually.
As the seventh busiest in the West Midlands, the station has gone through a three-year reconstruction while remaining open and operational.
The first stage of the development saw longer and wider platforms, complete with new canopies, completed ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. This was followed by the construction of two buildings, one of which is based on an island between the railway line and the adjacent Birmingham to Worcester canal, for which materials had to be craned over.
New bridges have been built over both the railway and canal, and the buildings feature wider entrances. Lifts provide access to both platforms from the footbridge. The original building has been retained but now designated as exit only.
The project was
