Railway stations not officially closed with no services in the United Kingdom

Some railway stations in the United Kingdom have no services on offer from them, which renders the station effectively closed. These stations do not appear in the rail usage figures of the Office of Rail & Road as the station receive no passengers. In order for the station to officially close, the Department for Transport is required to launch a consultation process before formally closing, under the provisions of the Railways Act 2005.[1]

Staffordshire
Wedgwood in February 2010

In May 2003 Central Trains services on the Stafford to Stoke-on-Trent line were withdrawn while the line was closed as part of an upgrade of the West Coast Main Line with a bus service introduced serving Norton Bridge, Stone and Barlaston and Wedgwood.[2] The rail service resumed in January 2004, but was withdrawn in May 2004 as Central Trains were short of crews while it trained them to operate Class 321s and 350s, and a replacement bus service was reintroduced.[3] The rail services were scheduled to resume in May 2005, however the Strategic Rail Authority decided the rail services would not be reinstated as with an increase in services by other operators, the paths were no longer available.[4]

In December 2008 London Midland introduced a new service between London Euston and Crewe that operated via the Stafford to Stoke-on-Trent line, however only Stone was reopened with the other stations continuing to be served by buses.[5] A consultation ran from October 2016 until February 2017 to officially close Norton Bridge and end the rail replacement bus service.[6] Norton Bridge officially closed on 10 December 2017 when the London Midland franchise ended and the replacement bus, part funded by the Department for Transport ended in March 2019.[6][7] However, proposals were made to reopen Wedgwood and/or Barlaston.[8][9][10]

Inverclyde
  • IBM, service suspended since 9 December 2018

Following the closure and subsequent demolition of the former IBM site in 2016, Abellio ScotRail's Inverclyde line services from Glasgow Central to Wemyss Bay continued to serve IBM station with an hourly service. On 9 December 2018 all services ceased to call at the station as part of a revised timetable. The decision was taken following a rise in crime and anti-social behaviour in the disused site surrounding the station and due to a decrease in passenger numbers as a result of the site's closure. The station has not been formally closed as Abellio ScotRail have stated that services could resume if the site is redeveloped.[11][12]

North Yorkshire
Redcar British Steel, photographed in April 2008.

Following the closure of the Teesside Steelworks in 2015, Northern Rail services on the Tees Valley Line continued to serve the station, with two services operating in each direction on weekdays and Saturday.[13] These services were withdrawn on 14 December 2019.[14] In 2017/18, it was the least-used station in Britain, serving just 40 passengers.[15]

Greater Manchester

The station was served by Arriva Rail North on match days only, until the service was suspended at the request of Manchester United, due to health and safety concerns.

Dorset

The station is situated at the end of the Weymouth Harbour Tramway and served the ferry terminal to the Channel Islands. The last regular service run in September 1987, the branch was last used in 1999 by a Pathfinder Tour special.[16] In March 2020 work is set to begin to remove the branch.[17]

See also
  • Parliamentary train – mainly routes that have smaller stations on the line or to keep the line from closure by making very few timetabled trains on the route.

References
  1. Closures Office of Rail & Road
  2. Stations close to trains BBC News 16 May 2003
  3. Crew training forces Central timetable cuts Rail Business Intelligence 13 May 2004 page 6
  4. SRA confirms bus takeover in West Midlands Rail issue 519 3 August 2005 page 8
  5. Stone station is re-opened The Railway Magazine issue 1294 February 2009 page 64
  6. "Summary of the responses to consultation on the proposed closure of Norton Bridge Station" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  7. "Closure of Norton Bridge station" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  9. "Reopening of Barlaston Railway Station (Stoke-on-Trent)". Hansard.parliament.uk.
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-10-29. Retrieved 2017-06-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. "Trains to skip stop IBM station to curb 'anti-social and criminal behaviour'". The Scotsman. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  12. "IBM (IBM)". National Rail Enquiries. National Rail. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  13. Timetable 19 May 2019 - 14 December 2019 Northern
  14. Redcar British Steel Station Information Northern
  15. Redcar British Steel station least used in Britain BBC News 12 December 2018
  16. http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/w/weymouth_quay/index.shtml
  17. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-51677959
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