By Dave Woodhall
Anyone wishing to use Bordesley railway station may have found themselves inconvenienced lately, as repair work means the station is closed until the end of the month. Bad weather over the Christmas period damaged the platform and repair work to this and other areas of a station enjoying what one railway expert calls “the least inviting entrance I have ever come across” will cost £75,000. Nationally, the bill for the weather-inspired repair programme will run into seven figures.
Luckily there won’t be too much inconvenience in Birmingham because Bordesley is, for much of the year, served by a total of ONE train per week – the 13.40 Saturday service into the city centre.
This seemingly pointless interruption on the journey from Stratford to Great Malvern means Bordesley operates the minimum legal requirement for a station to be considered open –a so-called Parliamentary service, which gets its name from the 1844 Railway Regulation Act originally introduced to force railway operators to cater the less well-off sections of society.
During the mid-twentieth century wide-ranging powers were introduced granting rail companies the right to purchase land in order to build new railways, and as these came about by Act of Parliament, a second Act would be required for lines, or even stations, to be closed. Hence the need for seemingly unprofitable stations to be kept open with a basic minimum service – it’s cheaper and easier than closing them.
In the case of Bordesley, situated on top of a viaduct, there would be little profit in selling whatever land remains at what was once a thriving cattle and goods station.
Bordesley, to be fair, is also used by Blues supporters when additional trains stop on on matchdays, although the obvious limitations of the football season mean it’s still an unprofitable year-round station. In 2008-09, it was reckoned to have been used by a total of 5,724 passengers. This was busy compared to the similarly-restricted Polesworth in Warwickshire, which over the same period attracted a grand total of 220 passengers but to give some comparison, neighbouring Small Heath had almost 80,000 visitors.
No doubt Network Rail would like stations such as these to be closed, but due to archaic regulations they’re committed to spending £75,000 on safety work on Bordesley alone. That would pay for a lot of hours at otherwise-unmanned stations and could even go some way to providing a more punctual service on stations that people actually do use.