Nuneaton railway station

The original Nuneaton station was opened on 15 September 1847 when the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) opened the Trent Valley Line, the branch line to Coventry opened in 1850. The original station, like many others on the line had been designed by John William Livock: A simple two platform structure, it became inadequate to cope with the growing traffic, and was rebuilt on a larger scale with extra platforms in 1873. It was rebuilt and enlarged again in 1915 with its current buildings, which were designed by Reginald Wynn Owen.[1][2]

The station clock tower dating from 1915.

In 1873 another line had opened; the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway, to link Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Coalville in order to access the large coal reserves located there. The line was closed to passengers in 1931 but remained open for goods until 1971.[1] Part of it was later reopened as the heritage Battlefield Line.

A second station in Nuneaton; Nuneaton Midland had been opened by the Midland Railway in 1864 on the line between Birmingham and Leicester. When both the LNWR and Midland Railway became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1924, both station were renamed; the present station becoming known as Nuneaton Trent Valley, and the former Midland station becoming Nuneaton Abbey Street. Abbey Street station was closed in 1968, and the present station reverted to being called just 'Nuneaton', and took on the Birmingham to Leicester services.[1]

Other stations serving Nuneaton included the aforementioned Abbey Street, and two suburban stations at Stockingford on the line towards Birmingham, and Chilvers Coton on the line to Coventry. These were all closed in the 1960s under the 1963 Reshaping of British Railways report, leaving only the present one. In addition, on 18 January 1965 the Coventry – Nuneaton Line closed to passengers, reopening to passengers in 1988.[1] In 2016 a new station in Nuneaton; Bermuda Park was opened on this line.

In 2004 Network Rail built two new platforms numbered 6 and 7 on the eastern side of the station. These were built as part of a grade separation project to separate trains on the Birmingham to Peterborough line, from those on the West Coast Main Line and so avoid the need for Birmingham-Leicester trains to cause conflicting movements by running across the WCML on the level: A disused flyover north of the station carrying Birmingham to Peterborough line over the WCML was restored to use, and a connection was built between this and the new platforms, which were dedicated to the Birmingham-Leicester-East Anglia services.[3][4]

In November 2012, the 0.9 mile Nuneaton North Chord opened to the north of the station. The chord allows freight trains approaching Nuneaton from Felixstowe via the Birmingham–Peterborough line, to join the northbound WCML after crossing the flyover, allowing them to avoid conflicts with southbound main line trains.[5][6][7][8]

Map showing the railways around Nuneaton (Nuneaton on right).