Snow Hill Tunnel is a railway tunnel underneath Birmingham city-centre. It runs for 635 yards (580 metres), [1] linking Birmingham Moor Street station at its southern end, with Birmingham Snow Hill station at its northern end. It is a vital link in the cross-city Snow Hill Lines.
The tunnel was opened in 1852 by the Great Western Railway as part of its London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside main line. It was built using the cut and cover method as far as Temple Row, and then a deep cutting to Snow Hill. In 1872 the cutting from Temple Row to Snow Hill was roofed over and the Great Western Arcade built on top. [2]
At the Snow Hill end of the tunnel, a short siding existed within the tunnel, alongside which was an underground entrance to the Birmingham branch of the Bank of England. The siding was used to transport cash and bullion by train to and from the bank, a facility which was last used in the mid-1960s. The bank entrance is now sealed up. [3]
As traffic into Snow Hill station grew, the twin tracked tunnel became a capacity bottleneck. This proved to be a problem when Snow Hill station was rebuilt and expanded in the 1900s. It was not economically feasible to widen the tunnel, as this would have required demolition of prime city-centre buildings whose foundations impeded construction. The capacity problem was therefore solved by building Moor Street station as a terminus at the southern end of the tunnel, in order to allow local trains from the south to terminate there instead of Snow Hill. [4]
Snow Hill station was run down and closed under the Beeching axe in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Services south from Snow Hill were ended in 1968, and the tunnel was closed to all traffic. The last train passed through on 2 March 1968. [5] Trains from the north continued into Snow Hill until the station was closed in 1972.
Having been derelict for over 19 years, the tunnel was reopened in 1987, when a new station at Snow Hill was built. Also, Moor Street station at the southern end of the tunnel was re-sited, with two new through platforms built adjacent to the tunnel mouth. These replaced the previous terminus platforms which were then closed once the tunnel was reopened. Shortly before it opened to traffic, a charity walk through the tunnel took place, where members of the public were allowed to walk through the tunnel, from Moor Street to Snow Hill, in return for a donation to charity. The tunnel was officially reopened on 5 October 1987, along with the new Snow Hill and Moor Street stations. [4]
The growth in traffic into Snow Hill meant that the old capacity bottleneck problem resurfaced. This led to the reopening of two of the terminus platforms at Moor Street in 2010, allowing some Chiltern Railways expresses to terminate there instead of Snow Hill. [6]
| Point | Coordinates |
|---|---|
| Northern portal | 52°28′59″N1°53′54″W / 52.482917°N 1.898458°W |
| Southern portal | 52°28′45″N1°53′33″W / 52.479113°N 1.892516°W |
Marylebone station is a Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network it is also known as London Marylebone and is the southern terminus of the Chiltern Main Line to Birmingham. An accompanying Underground station is on the Bakerloo line between Edgware Road and Baker Street in Transport for London's fare zone 1.
Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England. It is a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from London Euston, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley via the West Coast Main Line, the CrossCountry network, and for local and suburban services within the West Midlands, including those on the Cross-City Line between Lichfield Trent Valley, Redditch, and Bromsgrove, and the Chase Line to Walsall and Rugeley Trent Valley. The three-letter station is BHM.
Birmingham Snow Hill is a railway station in Birmingham City Centre, England. It is one of the three main city-centre stations in Birmingham along with Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Moor Street.
Birmingham is a major transport hub, due in part to its location in central England. Public transport and key highways in the city are overseen by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM).
The Chiltern Main Line is an inter-urban, regional and commuter railway, part of the British railway system. It links London (Marylebone) and Birmingham, the United Kingdom's two largest cities, by a 112-mile (180 km) route via High Wycombe, Banbury, and Leamington Spa.
The Cross-City Line is a commuter rail line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for 32 miles (51 km) from Redditch, and Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, its two southern termini, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via Birmingham New Street, connecting the suburbs of Birmingham in between. Services are operated by West Midlands Trains.
Birmingham Moor Street is one of three main railway stations in the city centre of Birmingham, England, along with Birmingham New Street and Birmingham Snow Hill.
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Lapworth railway station serves the village of Kingswood, Warwickshire, near the village of Lapworth from which it takes its name. It has two platforms connected by a footbridge. Most trains are those provided by Chiltern on its London Marylebone/Leamington Spa/Birmingham Snow Hill/Kidderminster route, but these are augmented by a few West Midlands Trains services.
Bordesley railway station is a small railway station serving the area of Bordesley in Birmingham, England located between Birmingham Moor Street and Small Heath stations. The current minimal level of service at the station is provided by West Midlands Trains services between Birmingham Snow Hill and Stratford-upon-Avon. The station is the least used in the West Midlands county with 20,688 passengers using it annually.
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Whitlocks End railway station is a railway station on the North Warwickshire Line located next to both the hamlet of Whitlock's End in the West Midlands of England and the small village of Major's Green in Worcestershire. It is also located a short distance from the village of Hollywood, and the new village of Dickens Heath. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by West Midlands Trains.
The North Warwickshire Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. It runs from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, now the southern terminus of the line, although until 1976 the line continued to Cheltenham as part of the Great Western Railway route from Birmingham to Bristol.
The Camp Hill line is a railway line in Birmingham which lies between Kings Norton on the Cross-City Line and Birmingham New Street via Grand Junction on the main lines from Derby and Coventry.
The Snow Hill Lines is the collective name for the railway lines running through Birmingham Snow Hill, and Birmingham Moor Street stations in Birmingham, United Kingdom. They form an important part of the suburban rail network of Birmingham, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. All other lines to/through Birmingham use Birmingham New Street station. The Snow Hill lines carry around 20% of the daily rail services into Birmingham; the remainder use New Street.
Granville Street railway station was a railway station in Birmingham, England. It was the original terminus of the Midland Railway's Birmingham West Suburban Railway (BWSR).
The Birmingham West Suburban Railway was a suburban railway built by the Midland Railway company. Opened in stages between 1876 and 1885, it allowed both the opening of development of central southwest suburban Birmingham south into Worcestershire and the by-passing of railway traffic via the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway into central Birmingham. Today, it forms a major section of the Cross-City Line, running from Lichfield to Redditch. It also forms an important part of the Cross Country Route.
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