Coventry railway station

The original station was built in 1838 as part of the London and Birmingham Railway and could be entered from Warwick Road, where two flights of stairs took the passengers down to the platform. Within two years it had been replaced, with a new larger station, a few hundred feet nearer to Rugby, this time, accessed via Eaton Road. In the late 19th century the Coventry tram network extended to the station at Eaton Road. The original station remained in service as the station masters offices, until the station was redeveloped in the early 1960s by the London Midland Region of British Railways.

Coventry station in 1962, shortly after being rebuilt

The new 1840 station saw a significant number of modifications and extensions over the years, there was an engine shed, water column and turntable, in its later days an inclined walkway from the platform directly to Warwick Road for summer excursions, and a parcel depot formed from old carriages. However, the station was constrained by bridges at either end of the station, Stoney Road Bridge to the south, and Warwick Road bridge to the north. The bridges effectively restricted the station to two lines, and prevented the platforms from being extended.

In the early 1960s both bridges were widened, and the old station finally demolished and re-built, this time with room for four platforms instead of two. At the time it was demolished in 1960, some parts of the old station were 120 years old. The station comprises a two-storey height booking hall with reinforced concrete frame, linked across an adjoining platform by a bridge to an island platform and a single sided platform. It was built to the designs of W R Headley, Regional Architect of the London Midland Region of British Railways and Derrick Shorten, the project architect.[1] It was formally reopened on 1 May 1962.[4][5][6] In 1995 it became a Grade II listed building.[1][7][8]

The new station featured a new parcel depot, used to manage the large number of mail order catalogue packages coming into Coventry at the time. The depot was serviced by its own platforms from the Rugby end. The depot has now been replaced by a multi-storey car park, although some of the platforms and an electrification gantry remain.

A £91 million redevelopment of the station is proposed to commence in 2019. A new bay platform is planned as part of this development.[9] From the mid-2020s Coventry station is also planned to be served by the Coventry Very Light Rail system.[10]

The London and Birmingham Railway opened a small motive power depot at the west end of the station in 1838. This was replaced by a larger depot in the fork between the Leamington and Rugby lines, in 1866. This was enlarged in 1897 and rebuilt in 1957 but closed 17 November 1958 and was demolished.[11] Locomotives were then serviced at the former Great Western Railway depot at Leamington Spa.

Coventry station from above in 2018

The station is served by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and West Midlands Trains. In the past, it has also been served by Silverlink, but these routes were transferred to Central Trains in 2004. Central Trains and Virgin CrossCountry services were respectively transferred to London Midland and CrossCountry in 2007.

There is a small yard at the Birmingham end of the station, in front of the shopping centre that was once part of Coventry's yard, that is used by London Midland for the stabling of electric traction units, no heavy work is carried out at Coventry as that is done at either Soho TMD (for Class 323s) or Northampton Siemens depot (Class 350s). All diesel units are stabled at Tyseley TMD where they are cleaned, maintained and refuelled. These units are only used on the local service to Nuneaton.

Until 2004, Coventry had a direct service to Nottingham via Leicester, but this was discontinued because Network Rail took away the ability for trains coming from Coventry to cross to the Leicester line at Nuneaton.

As of December 2019, the off-peak day time service pattern is:

• There are 6 trains per hour to Euston, calling at none, some or all of Rugby, Northampton, Milton Keynes Central or Watford Junction.
• 7 trains per hour to Birmingham New Street
• 1 CrossCountry train per hour to Bournemouth via Southampton, Reading, Oxford and Leamington Spa
• 1 CrossCountry train per hour to Manchester Piccadilly via Birmingham New Street[12]
• 1 train per hour to Liverpool via Stafford and Crewe
• 1 train per hour to Rugeley Town
• 1 train per hour to Glasgow Central or Edinburgh Waverley via Preston & Carlisle
• 1 train per hour to Nuneaton[13]
• 1 train per hour to Leamington Spa via Kenilworth

Service summary

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Leamington Spa		CrossCountry Bournemouth-Manchester via Coventry to Leamington Line		Birmingham International
Rugby		London Northwestern Railway Euston or Northampton – Birmingham		Canley
Terminus		West Midlands Railway Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line		Canley
Terminus		West Midlands Railway Coventry to Nuneaton Line		Coventry Arena
Terminus		West Midlands Railway Coventry-Leamington line		Kenilworth
Rugby or Milton Keynes Central or Watford Junction or London Euston		Avanti West Coast London-West Midlands		Birmingham International
Milton Keynes Central		Avanti West Coast West Coast Main Line		Birmingham International
Rugby or Watford Junction		Avanti West Coast London-Shrewsbury		Birmingham International

In addition to the usual ticket office, the station has a travel centre for information, tickets for advance travel, ferry services, for rail passes, and other services.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Coventry railway station.

• Train times and station information for Coventry railway station from National Rail
• A number of historic photographs of Coventry Station dating from 1838 to the rebuilding in 1962 can be seen at warwickshirerailways.com