Walsall railway station is the principal railway station of Walsall, West Midlands, England and situated in the heart of the town. It is operated by West Midlands Trains, with services provided by West Midlands Railway. The main entrance is situated inside the Saddlers Shopping Centre.
Overview
Services from the station go to Birmingham New Street south on the Walsall Line, (operated on behalf of Transport for West Midlands), and north to Cannock and Rugeley.
The station has three platforms: Platform 1: operating northbound services to Rugeley; Platform 2: operating southbound, semi-fast services from Rugeley to Birmingham New Street; Platform 3: (a terminus platform) operating local services to Wolverhampton via Birmingham New Street.
Platforms 2 and 3 have been recently refurbished, with a new waiting room added and poems on the walls of the stairs to the platforms. The mainline platforms are electrified to 25 kV AC Overhead power.
A self-service ticket machine was placed on Platform 1 but was no longer in place in April 2011; however, a similar machine remains in the station booking hall which is at street level above platform 3. The station has a staffed ticket office.
Services
Walsall was formerly served by services to Wellington and Stafford but these were withdrawn in 2008 due to low passenger numbers and resulting in Walsall losing its connection to Shropshire. Walsall retains close connections to Rugeley Trent Valley for the West Coast Main Line. Three services a day to Stafford on the peak services to Liverpool Lime Street were discontinued after the May 2019 timetable change. Connections can be made at Birmingham New Street for services to Liverpool Lime Street.
There were also two morning services a day to Telford and Shrewsbury via Birmingham and Wolverhampton. This service was also introduced in the timetable change in May 2019. They were operated as extensions of the Shrewsbury to Birmingham Line. They replaced the former Liverpool Lime Street service. However in December 2019, following problems with services and disruptions, the Walsall service was once again withdrawn. This was replaced by a through Rugeley Trent Valley to Wolverhampton service.
Monday to Saturday daytimes four trains per hour run southbound from Walsall to Birmingham New Street. One runs half-hourly fast to New Street only calling at before stopping at local stations on its way to . A stopping service runs half-hourly continuing past Birmingham to form the Birmingham to stopping service. The fast trains call only at (with occasional calls at Bescot Stadium) and are routed via the direct line through Soho and Winson Green, whilst the stopping trains run via .
From Walsall to Rugeley Trent Valley the service is half-hourly.
There was also a service to London which called at all stations on the Chase Line and then from Walsall to Birmingham before it continued to Coventry, Rugby, Hampton-in-Arden, Northampton, Milton Keynes and London Euston. This has been withdrawn and instead starts from New Street.
There were plans to introduce direct services to London Euston operated by Avanti West Coast in 2021, however in the December 2022 timetable changes it was decided this would not go ahead.
Commuters from Walsall to London will continue having to interchange using West Midlands Railway services at , or for services to London.