Wolverhampton station

For the former Great Western Railway station in Wolverhampton, see Wolverhampton Low Level railway station.

"WVH" redirects here. For the band, see Mammoth WVH.

Wolverhampton is a regional interchange railway station serving the city of Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands, England. Historically known as Wolverhampton High Level, it lies on the Birmingham Loop of the West Coast Main Line. It is the fourth-busiest station in the West Midlands region and is served by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Transport for Wales and West Midlands Trains. There is a West Midlands Metro tram stop located outside the station and an elevated walkway towards Wolverhampton bus station.

Wolverhampton
The new station building, opened in 2021, with a CAF Urbos 3 tram
General information
Location	Wolverhampton, City of Wolverhampton, England
Coordinates	52.5875°N 2.1200°W / 52.5875; -2.1200
Grid reference	SO919988
Managed by	West Midlands Railway
Transit authority	Transport for West Midlands
Platforms	6
Other information
Station code	WVH
Fare zone	5
Classification	DfT category B
History
Original company	Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 July 1852	Opened as Wolverhampton (Queen Street)
1 June 1885	Renamed Wolverhampton (High Level)
1964-67	Redeveloped
7 May 1973	Renamed Wolverhampton
2018-21	Redeveloped
17 September 2023	West Midlands Metro services started
Passengers
2020/21	0.995 million
Interchange	52,875
2021/22	3.453 million
Interchange	0.187 million
2022/23	4.446 million
Interchange	0.222 million
2023/24	4.771 million
Interchange	0.228 million
2024/25	5.249 million
Interchange	0.298 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

Wolverhampton railways in 1854

Wolverhampton High Level Station in 1963

The first station named Wolverhampton opened on the edge of the town centre in 1837 on the Grand Junction Railway. This station was renamed Wednesfield Heath in 1855, shortly after the present station was opened, and subsequently closed in 1873.

On 12 November 1849, the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway opened a temporary terminus to its line at a location very close to the present station.

The present site was opened on 1 July 1852 by the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway, a subsidiary of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR); it was named Wolverhampton Queen Street. The only visible remnant of the original station is the Queen's Building, the gateway to Railway Drive, which was the approach road to the station. The building was originally the carriage entrance to the station and was completed three years before the main station building. Today, it forms part of Wolverhampton bus station.

A diagram of railways around central Wolverhampton from 1914; High Level is the red station near the centre

Two years later, on 1 July 1854, the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OWWR) opened a second station, located behind the older station on lower ground, which became known as the Wolverhampton Low Level station from April 1856, the other becoming known as Wolverhampton High Level from 1 June 1885.

From 1923, the LNWR was amalgamated into the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and in 1948 it became part of the London Midland Region of British Railways.

Services over the former Grand Junction Railway line to Walsall (and thence to Lichfield City and Burton-on-Trent) ended in January 1965; this route was the only one from here to fall victim to the Beeching Axe.

The former station building of 1964–67 by Ray Moorcroft; it was demolished in 2020

The station dated from 1964, when the High Level station was completely rebuilt by the architect Ray Moorcroft as part of a modernisation programme that saw the West Coast Main Line electrified. It consisted of three through platforms (the present platforms 1, 2 and 3). As part of this scheme, most services on the OW&WR route from Shrewsbury were diverted here from Low Level station, although a few peak-hour trains continued to serve the latter until March 1968; these then continued to Birmingham New Street via the Stour Valley line rather than via the ex-GWR line to Birmingham Snow Hill as before.

In the 1980s, a parcels siding was converted into a south-facing bay platform (the present platform 5), and a new north-facing bay was constructed (the present platform 6).

One of Kevin Atherton's Iron Horse sculptures

In 1987, twelve different horse sculptures by Kevin Atherton, titled Iron Horse, were erected between New Street and Wolverhampton, including one at the southern end of platforms 2 and 3.

More recently, in 2004, a new through platform (no. 4) was constructed on the site of infrequently used sidings. This has greatly enhanced the capacity of the station. A new footbridge was also constructed, to enable access to the new platform as well as improving access to the existing ones. A proposal for a more comprehensive redevelopment of the station and surrounding area was announced on 18 October 2006.

Work on the £150 million redevelopment of the station finally began in 2018; it was expected to be completed in 2020 and include an extension of the West Midlands Metro. However, COVID-19 requirements caused the work to be delayed. Demolition of the 1960s buildings began in May 2020, with the first part of the new station opening the same month. The new station building was fully opened in June 2021, a year later than originally planned. Its aluminium façade is in black and gold, the traditional colours of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Despite the new station building, the platforms and structures from the 1960s station building remain largely untouched. As of 2025, there were no confirmed plans to refurbish those structures or to bring them in-keeping with the new concourse.

Management of the station transferred from Virgin Trains to West Midlands Trains in April 2018.

Layout

A view of platform 4 (left)

The station has six platforms:

• 1 to 4 are through platforms
• 5 and 6 are bay platforms at the south and north ends respectively.

Although all four through platforms are reversible, the following generally applies in practice:

1. is used for northbound services; in the late evenings and on Sundays, there are still a few Avanti West Coast services that either terminate in platforms 1 or 2. These trains usually travel to London Euston, via Birmingham New Street
2. for northbound and southbound services
3. for southbound services and for northbound services at busy times
4. for southbound services; used for all Avanti West Coast services from Edinburgh/Glasgow to London Euston
5. used by local services to Walsall, via Birmingham New Street
6. was designed for local services on the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line (formerly numbered 4, but renumbered in 2004), but is now rarely used as the majority of services on that route travel through to Birmingham or occasionally to Walsall. It is generally used for the first service of the day to Shrewsbury and for holding trains when they are not in use.

All lines at the station are electrified overhead at 25 kV AC.

Services

National Rail

The station is served by four train operating companies, which provide the following general off-peak services in trains per hour/day (tph/tpd):

Avanti West Coast

• 1 tph to London Euston, via Birmingham New Street
• 1 tp2h to Edinburgh Waverley, via Wigan North Western
• 1 tp2h to Glasgow Central, via Wigan North Western

A CrossCountry Super Voyager diesel multiple unit, 2004

CrossCountry:

• 1 tph to Bournemouth, via Birmingham New Street and Coventry
• 1 tph to Bristol Temple Meads via Birmingham New Street and Cheltenham Spa
• 2 tph to Manchester Piccadilly, via Stoke-on-Trent.

Two Transport for Wales Class 158s departing from the station

Transport for Wales

• 1 tph to Birmingham International
• 1 tp2h to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli, via Shrewsbury; the service divides at Machynlleth
• 1 tp2h to Holyhead.

West Midlands Trains:

London Northwestern Railway

• 2 tph to Birmingham New Street
• 2 tph to Liverpool Lime Street, via Stafford and Crewe.

West Midlands Railway:

• 2 tph to Walsall, via Birmingham New Street
• 2 tph to Birmingham New Street; of which:
  • 1 tph calls at Smethwick Galton Bridge only
  • 1 tph calls at Willenhall, Darlaston and Tame Bridge Parkway
• 2 tph to Shrewsbury, via Telford Central.

Wolverhampton Lines
to Shrewsbury Codsall Bilbrook Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line to Stafford Tettenhall Gailey Compton Four Ashes Penn Halt Bushbury Wombourne Wombourne Branch Line to Stourbridge Dunstall Park Herbert Street Goods (GWR) Stafford Road Works Wolverhampton Wolverhampton Low Level Wolverhampton St George's The Royal Wednesfield Road Goods (MR) Wednesfield Heath Monmore Green Heath Town Wolverhampton Steel Terminal Wednesfield Portobello Ettingshall Road Willenhall Bilston Street Coseley Willenhall Stafford Street Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line to Birmingham New Street Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway to Walsall Priestfield (metro) Walsall–Wolverhampton line to Walsall Priestfield (rail) Bilston Central (metro) Bilston West Bilston Central (rail) Daisy Bank Loxdale Princes End and Coseley Bradley Lanebilston Oxford–Worcester– Wolverhampton Line to Dudley Bradley and Moxley to Edgbaston Village via West Midlands Metro ( historically GWR )

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Stafford		CrossCountry South West – Manchester		Birmingham New Street
Penkridge towards Liverpool Lime Street		London Northwestern Railway Birmingham–Liverpool		Coseley towards Birmingham New Street
Telford Central		Transport for Wales North Wales Main Line		Sandwell & Dudley
		Transport for Wales Cambrian Line
Shifnal		West Midlands Railway Birmingham – Wolverhampton – Shrewsbury		Smethwick Galton Bridge
Bilbrook				Willenhall
Terminus		West Midlands Railway Wolverhampton – Birmingham – Walsall		Coseley
Stafford		Avanti West Coast West Coast Main Line		Sandwell & Dudley
	Disused railways
Terminus		Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway Later Midland Railway		Heath Town

West Midlands Metro stop

Wolverhampton station
General information
Location	Railway Drive, Wolverhampton, England,
System	West Midlands Metro tram stop
Line	Line 1 (Edgbaston Village/Millennium Point - Wolverhampton St George's/Wolverhampton station)
Platforms	1
History
Opened	17 September 2023 (2023-09-17)
Passengers
N/A
Location

As part of the Interchange project, West Midlands Metro Line 1 was extended to the railway station with the addition of a new Metro stop. It was expected to be operational by 2020; however, this was delayed until the stop opened on 17 September 2023.

Further reading

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2009). Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury. Middleton Press. figs. 6–10. ISBN 9781906008444. OCLC 286385795.

External links

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