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Worcester Foregate Street railway station, opened by the Great Western Railway in 1860[1] in the centre of Worcester, England, is the smaller of the two stations serving the city, but more centrally located. The other station, Worcester Shrub Hill, is to the east. A third station, Worcestershire Parkway, is located just outside the city to the south-east.

Worcester Foregate Street
One of the station entrances.
General information
Location	Worcester, Worcester England
Grid reference	SO849552
Managed by	West Midlands Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	WOF
Classification	DfT category C2
Passengers
2017/18	2.172 million
2018/19	2.071 million
2019/20	2.191 million
Interchange	0.569 million
2020/21	0.535 million
Interchange	86,385
2021/22	1.358 million
Interchange	0.256 million
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station layout is unusual in that travelling east the two platforms serve different routes, rather than different directions. Platform 1 can only be accessed by trains via Worcester Shrub Hill (including trains to and from London Paddington and via Cheltenham Spa towards the southwest), while Platform 2 can only be accessed from the east by trains running directly to and from Droitwich Spa, avoiding Shrub Hill. Similar examples of this type of layout can be found at Glenrothes with Thornton in Fife and Bare Lane in Lancashire. This means that Great Western Railway services can only stop at Platform 1, as all of these trains stop at Shrub Hill.

There is a cafe called Cafe Loco at the end of Platform 1 in the old signal box.

The station itself is built on a viaduct, meaning that space for expansion is restricted, but the platforms are nevertheless of ample length to accommodate an HST. Despite its small size, the remains of two signal boxes can be seen, one spanning the tracks and the second now the station cafe.

History

The station opened on 17 May 1860. It was originally part of the Hereford and Worcester Railway which was incorporated into the West Midland Railway, before being absorbed by the Great Western Railway. On 1 January 1948 the company became Government owned under British Railways. The Butts Spur line was also constructed in 1860 with the unfulfilled aim of connecting the station to Diglis for the conveyance of freight.

Since 1973 the station has had an unusual layout, being essentially two single-track lines side by side rather than the ordinary double-track layout which it appears to be. The two single lines run from Henwick, on the other side of the River Severn, through Foregate Street, to the site of the former Rainbow Hill Junction to the east of the station, which used to provide a crossover between the two tracks. At this point the lines diverge with that on the north side heading towards Tunnel Junction and Droitwich Spa, while the southern track leads to Worcester Shrub Hill. Rainbow Hill Junction was removed when the signalling in the area was remodelled in 1973. Since then, platform 1 (on the south side) has only been usable by trains running via Shrub Hill, and platform 2 only by trains running directly to or from Droitwich without calling at Shrub Hill. Signs at the station (see right) warn of "Two-way working on both lines".[2][3]

The station celebrated its 150th birthday on 23 May 2010 with the unveiling of a plaque and a special train[4] that ran to Great Malvern railway station (which celebrated its 150th Anniversary on the same date).[5]

The art gallery Movement opened on platform 2 on 2 October 2010.[6]

The station was upgraded in 2014, which included a refurbished subway, two new entrances with automatic doors, relocation of the lift at the second entrance to be enclosed in the station building and conversion of one of the railway arches into a bike shelter. The bridge was also strengthened and repainted.

Until May 2022, Great Western Railway was served by limited services to Southampton Central and Brighton.[7][8][9]

Services

The station is served by two train operating companies: West Midlands Trains (who manage the station) and Great Western Railway. West Midlands Trains operate services to Birmingham via two different routes, either to Birmingham New Street via Bromsgrove or to Birmingham Snow Hill via Kidderminster.[10] There is an hourly service between Hereford and New Street and two trains per hour (three at peak times) to Snow Hill, with many of the latter running beyond to either Whitlocks End or Dorridge; some also originate/terminate at Great Malvern on this route.

Great Western Railway operate a regular service to London Paddington via the Cotswold Line and Oxford[11] and a service to Bristol Temple Meads via Gloucester with extensions through to Westbury and Weymouth.[12] Many of the trains on both these routes run to/from Great Malvern, though the ones that start and finish at Shrub Hill have convenient connections from here.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Malvern Link		West Midlands Railway Birmingham-Hereford/Great Malvern		Droitwich Spa
				Worcester Shrub Hill
Terminus		West Midlands Railway Worcester-Birmingham via Kidderminster		Droitwich Spa
Malvern Link		Great Western Railway Cotswold Line		Worcester Shrub Hill
Malvern Link		Great Western Railway Worcester to Bristol		Worcester Shrub Hill
	Disused railways
Henwick Line open, station closed		Great Western Railway Worcester and Hereford Railway		Worcester Shrub Hill Line and station open

See also

v t e Railway lines in Worcestershire
Legend
Kidderminster line to Birmingham Snow Hill Cross-City Line to Birmingham New Street Hagley Birmingham–Stratford line to Birmingham Moor Street Wythall Blakedown Birmingham–Stratford line to Stratford-upon-Avon Barnt Green Kidderminster Town Kidderminster Blackwell Alvechurch Foley Park Halt Lickey Incline Bewdley Tunnel Redditch Rifle Range Halt Stourport-on-Severn Gloucester loop line via Alcester Hartlebury Bromsgrove Bewdley Cutnall Green Halt Stoke Works Northwood Halt Droitwich Spa Junction Wyre Forest Droitwich Spa Arley Newnham Bridge Fernhill Heath Severn Valley Railway to Bridgnorth Blackpole Halt Easton Court Astwood Halt Tenbury and Bewdley Railway to Woofferton Droitwich Road Worcester Tunnel Junction Dunhampstead Worcester TMD Oddingley Spetchley Vinegar works Worcester Shrub Hill Worcester Foregate Street Norton Worcestershire Parkway Stoulton former freight branch Pershore River Severn Abbot's Wood Junction Wyre Halt Henwick Fladbury Boughton Halt Wadborough Rushwick Halt Defford Leigh Court Eckington Knightwick Bredon Bransford Road Gloucester loop line via Alcester Suckley Harvington Worcester, Bromyard & Leominster Rly to Leominster Evesham Newland Halt Bengeworth Malvern Link Hinton Great Malvern Ashton-under-Hill Malvern Hanley Road Beckford Upton-on-Severn Littleton and Badsey Ripple Honeybourne Malvern Wells Cotswold Line to Hereford Honeybourne Line to Stratford-upon-Avon Ashchurch for Tewkesbury Cotswold Line to Oxford Cross Country Route to Cheltenham Spa Broadway Gloucestershire Warwickshire Rly to Cheltenham Racecourse

• Worcester Shrub Hill railway station
• Worcester (Norton) Parkway railway station

References

Further reading

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2004). Worcester to Hereford. West Sussex: Middleton Press. figs. 1-8. ISBN 9781904474388. OCLC 862604858.

External links

• Train times and station information for Worcester Foregate Street railway station from National Rail

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