Warwick Parkway railway station photo survey (8)

Image: © Andy F Taken: 15 Nov 2009

Looking north through the subway between the platforms at Warwick Parkway railway station (see text below). The station opened in 2000 and is located a mile or so from junction 15 of the M40 motorway. The site was chosen for its proximity to main roads and the station was built to encourage passengers from car to rail travel and also to relieve pressure on the limited car parking space at Leamington Spa [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1519237] [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/25673] and Warwick [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1583234] stations. As a park-and-ride station, a key feature of Warwick Parkway is the very large surface carpark on the north side of the station site. The station is also served by local buses from the nearby 'commuter' villages of Hampton Magna and Hampton-on-the-Hill; the buses also serve Warwick and Leamington Spa. National Express coaches run from the station to Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Fee covered cycle storage is available at the front of the station and there is also a taxi rank. The station is staffed part-time and has wheelchair access to all public areas. The station is located on Old Budbrooke Road, 200 metres west of the junction of the A46 Warwick bypass and the A4177 Warwick to Birmingham road. The railway runs on an embankment through the station site. The booking hall is below the embankment on the north side of the line and the two facing platforms are at a higher level; the platforms overhang the sides of the embankment and are supported on piles. Stairways and lifts connect the booking hall to both platforms; a brick-faced subway through the embankment gives access to the stairs and lift on the south side of the line. The station is on the ex-GWR (Great Western Railway) London to Birmingham main line and is operated by Chiltern Railways. Up services run to London Marylebone via Leamington Spa, Banbury and Bicester; down services run to Birmingham Snow Hill via Solihull. Some peak hour services are extended beyond Birmingham to and from Smethwick, Stourbridge junction and Kidderminster. The minimum service is half-hourly in each direction with more frequent trains at peak times. Warwick Parkway station is owned as well as operated by Chiltern Railways; this makes it one of the few stations on a UK mainline railway not owned by Network Rail.

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