Rugby railway station

Rugby
Location
Place	Rugby
Local authority	Rugby
Coordinates	52°22′44″N 1°15′00″W / 52.379°N 1.250°W / 52.379; -1.250Coordinates: 52°22′44″N 1°15′00″W / 52.379°N 1.250°W / 52.379; -1.250
Operations
Station code	RUG
Managed by	Virgin Trains
Platforms in use	6
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	0.972 million
2005/06 *	1.096 million
2006/07 *	1.155 million
2007/08 *	1.160 million
History
Opened 1838 Closed and Rebuilt 1840 Closed and Rebuilt 1885 (1838 Closed and Rebuilt 1840 Closed and Rebuilt 1885)
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Rugby from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

Rugby railway station serves the town of Rugby in Warwickshire, England. It opened during the Victorian era, in 1885, replacing earlier stations situated a little further west. Since the closure of the station on the now-abandoned Great Central Railway route through the town, it is Rugby's only station.

Situated on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) connecting London to Birmingham and the North West, the present station, managed by Virgin Trains, is located roughly half a mile north of Rugby town centre. On the WCML as a whole, it is located 82 miles north of London Euston, and 319 miles (513 km) south of Glasgow Central.

Services

Main line train services into Rugby are operated by Virgin Trains. There are regular services to London, Birmingham and Crewe with limited direct services to/from North West, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool and Holyhead, the latter destinations are in the morning and evening peaks.

Local services from London / Northampton to Coventry and Birmingham / Crewe (via Trent Valley Line, Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent) are provided by London Midland. In December 2005 Silverlink and Central Trains (the previous franchise holders) jointly introduced an infrequent semi-fast Euston / Northampton to Crewe / Liverpool service via the Trent Valley Line as a precursor to the revamped hourly services introduced in December 2008. This service is now also operated by London Midland.

The station gets one Virgin West Coast train to/from London per hour, usually a Birmingham New Street service, with a few additional trains, mainly during the peaks.

Since the timetable change of December 2008, Rugby's status as an important node on the Intercity Main line network has ended. Although the station is operated by Virgin Trains, the main user of the station is London Midland, which has significantly more services stopping at Rugby than Virgin Trains, most of which pass through without stopping.

History

The first railway station to be built in Rugby was a wooden temporary structure located around half a mile to the west of the present station. It opened in 1838 when the London and Birmingham Railway was constructed.

This station lasted only a few years. When a junction was made with the Midland Counties Railway in 1840 a new station was built nearer the present station site although still slightly to the west.

The original station had been located at the point where the railway crossed the Rugby to Leicester tollpike road (now the A426) because at the time this was the only road north from Rugby. When the second station was opened, a new road Railway Terrace had to be built to link it to the town centre.

This second station was effectively managed by two companies - the London and North Western Railway and the Midland Railway - and for this reason grew up in a haphazard fashion. It was at first no more than a temporary wooden structure, but was rebuilt in brick in 1850. This station consisted of platforms at each side of the track with one bay platform. The platforms were rather low and passengers complained of having to perform an "acrobatic feat" to board trains.

The station was at the centre of a busy junction and often saw chaotic scenes. It featured, only lightly disguised, in Charles Dickens's story Mugby Junction.

The present station

The second station lasted until the 1880s, when a new line from Rugby to Northampton (the Northampton loop) was built, and it was replaced by the current station which opened on 5 July 1885. The station is also a major junction and interchange point on the WCML, being the point where both the Birmingham and Trent Valley sections converge, as well as the point where the Northampton loop diverges from the southbound route towards Euston.

Photo taken in 2004 on one of the original island platforms showing a class 321. This platform has since been slightly altered.

Today's station consists of a large island platform with one bay platform at the south end. There is a platform on the south side, normally used for northbound services. In addition to these, an island platform numbered 5 and 6 is located on the north side of the station, normally used for southbound services. The main island platforms are accessed from a tunnel at road level and a ramp leading to the platforms.

The station had one of the longest platforms of any British railway station, at 421 metres (1,380 ft), but the two main island platforms were both shortened as part of the 2007–08 station upgrade.

At its height, as well as the West Coast Main Line, Rugby station served railway lines to Leicester, Leamington Spa, and Peterborough via Market Harborough. In the 1960s all but the West Coast line were closed as part of the Beeching Axe.

When constructed the station had a large steel and glass roof which covered the station platforms and the tracks on each side. This lasted more than 100 years until the structure became unstable and was replaced in the early 2000s with a modern 'gull wing' roof over the platforms.

In 1899 a second station, Rugby Central, was opened in Rugby (see below). To distinguish it from the other station, the present station became known as Rugby Midland. Rugby Central closed in 1969, and Rugby Midland reverted to being called just Rugby in 1975.

2008 upgrade

Road Railer working at Rugby, 12/01/08

An engineers train delivering new ballast, 12/01/08

As a part of the West Coast Main Line modernisation programme, major track restructuring work was carried out to allow higher speed running through Rugby; three new platforms were added, along with a new ticket office and entrance.^[1] Work began in September 2006 and was completed late in 2008.

It was at one time thought that remodelling of the track layout would entail complete demolition of the present station, but the final plans involved retention of the existing island platform and buildings. The track upgrades allow non-stopping trains to run through Rugby Junction at 125 mph, thus eliminating another bottleneck from the WCML.

The platform on the south side of the station opened for use on 29 May 2007 and as a result all of the platforms were renumbered. This platform became Platform 1, the former Platform 1 became Platform 2 and 2 became 4. The additional platforms on the north side of the station are numbered Platforms 5 and 6 and they opened on 27 August 2008. Platform 8 became Platform 3. The platforms originally numbered 3, 6 and 7 were removed.

Signalling

Rugby once had the largest concentration of mechanical signalling in the world and was home to one of the most impressive signal gantries in Britain.^[2] Situated to the south of the station and erected in 1895, it spanned three tracks and carried forty-four semaphore arms. Every arm was duplicated due to sighting difficulties that resulted from the Great Central Railway's 'Birdcage' bridge crossing the WCML behind the gantry's location. The gantry acquired the nickname of "the Rugby Bedstead" on account of its appearance.

In 1939, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway resignalled the Rugby area with colour light signals, although the mechanical signal boxes were retained. The famous signal gantry became redundant, following which it was divided up into smaller pieces to form a number of smaller structures for re-use elsewhere.^[3]

SGE was awarded a contract to resignal the Rugby area in preparation for electrification. Rugby Power Signal Box (PSB) opened in 1964. It is located east of the station, on the south (Down) side of the railway. The whole station area, together with part of the WCML stretching as far south as Castlethorpe, was controlled from this new box. It was equipped with an 'NX' (entrance-exit) panel. In 1991, Rugby PSB took over control of the Northampton area using Solid State Interlocking (SSI). Since the gradual commissioning of Rugby SCC, the PSB at Rugby only retains the Northampton Loop Line [South of Hillmorton Junction to Hunsbury Hill Tunnel via Long Buckby and Northampton station]

Rugby Signalling Control Centre (SCC), located north-west of the station, opened in 2004. Initially, its area of control was limited to a portion of the WCML between Kings Langley and Linslade Tunnel. The current area of control, as of 2009 is Kings Langley to Armitage, including small portions of branch lines around Nuneaton, these include the Coventry-Nuneaton [from Three Spires to Nuneaton] and part of the Arley/Hinckley lines [Arley Tunnel to Padge Hall]. At present Rugby SCC does not control Bletchley station, control of which is retained by Bletchley PSB, or the Northampton line, control of which is still undertaken by Rugby PSB.

Rugby Central station

Rugby Central station in 1966

Rugby Central was Rugby's station on the Great Central Main Line which opened in 1899 and closed in 1969. When open, the station had services between London (Marylebone) and Sheffield via Leicester and Nottingham until closure of most of the route in 1966. The section between Rugby Central and Nottingham (initially Victoria, later cut back to Arkwright Street) remained open until 1969. This service was unusual in being self contained - none of the stations were used by trains on any other service.

Rugby Central was situated on Hillmorton Road roughly half a mile east of the town centre. It was a much smaller and less important affair than Midland Station, although it too consisted of an island platform.

The booking office was located at road level, built onto the side of the road bridge over the railway with the platform below. The platform was accessed by a staircase from the booking office.

The station buildings were demolished upon closure, although the platform still exists and can still be seen. The whole of the former Great Central Railway alignment through Rugby is now a nature walk called the 'Great Central Way'.

On the preserved Great Central Railway in Leicestershire, the preserved station at Loughborough is very similar to the former Rugby Central Station.

Train services serving Rugby railway station

References

External links

• Rugby Station at warwickshirerailways.com