A basic train station serving the town centre of Solihull, while the facilities are limited, as…read moreexpected for a small station, Solihull Railway Station still serves its' purpose of providing useful railway services to the town with connections into Birmingham and London. Services are provided by West Midlands Railway and Chiltern Railways. All services call via Birmingham city centre (Moor Street or Snow Hill), yet sadly none go into New Street or Birmingham International (For the NEC and Airport). The station is fully staffed, with taxis and some bus services stopping right outside to continue your journey, you may need to get a bus to Touchwood and then change over to another service though. 3* - OK, pretty average island platform station, yet useful for providing quick connections between Birmingham and Solihull, saving a lot of time compared to the bus.

The train station is managed by London Midland and Chiltern Railways. Cross Country serve the…read morestation occasionally when replacing stops at Coventry and Birmingham International during engineering work. The station has trains that run to most areas of the country and wherever the trains don't go it's fairly simple to make a change. The staff at Solihull station are polite, very helpful and knowledgeable about the journeys. I've seen some nervous travellers and nine times out of ten the staff have always put their mind at ease about the journey. When the weather is cold nobody wants to be outside (unless you like the cold) and the waiting rooms here usually don't have the heating on. On the other hand they provide a warmer atmosphere than outside. If the money is available, the waiting rooms would really benefit from heaters that people can put on themselves and comfier seats. I've seen this in a few other train stations. If you're visiting Solihull or want to know about the events then this is a good place to come and pick up some leaflets or even talk to the staff to see what's going on.

Decent train station that serves Leamington town centre well. It is about 10mins walk from the…read morecentre of town. There is a cafe and waiting area on platform 2 which is handy for getting a refreshment or some reading material. There are always plenty of staff around and I have never found the ticket office closed. There is a paid car park directly outside the station however this does get full up. The taxi rank is also conveniently opposite the entrance of the station.

Easy access from the town, but parking isnt great. Hardly any spaces. Although you can park on…read moresurrounding roads. Station seems to be constantly under construction but with little visible impovement. There is a cafe on one platform with a limited selection of cakes.

Stourbridge Train Station is one of the better stations along this line…read more Heated rooms on both platforms, easy access from both street and ticket booth sides and a snack shop (but it still only opens for a short period in the morning). The station itself is clean and has an underpass connecting both platforms from the ticket office. The third platform is a tram that rolls between here and Stourbridge town. It runs every 10 or so minutes, seems well kept and the staff are always friendly. The ticket office is always well manned; 2 staff members on during peak hour is unheard of in most stations but here it can be found most days. There is even some extra parking at the front, near the entrance, if the car park gets full up.

Once again, an English city that has multiple railway termini because, well, privatised railways…read more Then again, when it was built the only people investing in railways were private companies. However, this station is pretty massive. In fact it is so big that it is really quite easy to get lost in it. In fact, there are like four areas where you go to catch a train, and two of them don't meet (which means you have to exit, and then enter again). Anyway, this station isn't bad, and it even has a pub in it, which is cool.

Birmingham Moor Street might be one of the smaller stations in the city centre, and it might not be…read moreas big, bold and modern, while also lacking the number of railway services compared to New Street, but Birmingham Moor Street just has something I like. Its minimalistic style is beautiful and rather nice, it feels like a traditional old British railway station done well, even down to the platform numbers. It is right opposite the Bullring, I would recommend heading to a store inside there, or perhaps Subway to get some food for the train, as other than a few small stores, there isn't much on offer here especially if you are making a long journey. The station is managed by Chiltern Railways and is the terminus of their route into London Marleybone. Services are also offered by West Midlands Railway. Many of the services from this station are mainly local services, into the likes of Birmingham Snow Hill and Solihull, sadly there are no connections into Birmingham International (For the Airport and NEC). I found the staff at the station to be a little rude and unhelpful, which was a sad first interaction with Chiltern Railways. 3* - Traditional old station with a good feel to it, obviously the lack of services and unfriendly staff do let it down and I will always prefer travelling via New Street, but this isn't a bad alternative.

This is my nearest railway station so its the one I use on the fairly rare occasions I use the…read moretrains in Brum. I didn't grow up near a train station, and despite living in several parts of Brum (New Oscott, Harborne, Moseley) I've never lived near one. Moving to Selly Park a couple of years ago meant that this all changed, but I suppose I've never really got into the habit of using the train. However, with a young son who is ludicrously excited by the prospect of a train journey, from time-to-time I'll leave the car at home and take him on a trip over to see his Grandma using the choo-choo. Having a young child means a pushchair, and this is one of the main gripes about Selly Oak station. If you approach it from the Raddlebarn Road, as I do, then you use the entrance on Heeley Road, which serves the southbound platform. In order to reach the northbound platform you either need to add an extra 10 minutes onto your walk and enter the station from the Bristol Road, or you need to schlep up the stairs and across the bridge....and this is what I end up doing. Other than this minor moan, it's a fairly decent station and nowhere near as busy as the two it sits between (Bourneville and University). There is a ticket kiosk and two or three ticket machines, so you'll be unlucky if you miss your train because someone is occupying the ticket seller kiosk with alarmingly dumb questions at rush hour, that said, it's worth getting there a fair few minutes before your train, just in case. If you are using this station as a means of breaking up your commute, there is a fairly big carpark but I've never used it so I can't comment on the prices or security.

People are prob thinking..."can you review a train station?" On yelp you can and here's my attempt…read moreat it :) This is a massive train station but it serves the good folk of selly oak mostly students well, it's a welcome option other than catching the bus into the city centre (prob just as cheap nowadays). There's two entrances for the station the main one which has the car park next to it is just off the Bristol road, plenty of car park space and new and old bike parking with more and more people deciding to ride bikes nowadays the bike lock ups are well received. The second entrance to the station is just off heeley road this also has a car park but only a small one in comparison. Both entrances have wheelchair access with lifts recently added so people can make it across the for bridge a lot more easier. It's pretty much your normal station just like most Birmingham stations. There's a local coffee hut that opens early for the morning rush this is located in the main entrance by platform one. With the station being on the redditch to Lichfield city line the morning rush can be a bit of a squeeze all the way to new street but that's what you have come to expect from public transport nowadays. The station is kept really clean and litter free and the staff are always polite so that's a plus in my eyes. Overall a nice little station that's well used :) keep up the good work!

This is an ideal station for people needing to park to get the train to Birmingham City. The…read morestation boasts two large car parks and offers wheelchair access throughout. This train line is one of the busiest in the West Midlands. It stretches as far as Lichfield (Staffordshire) and goes through to Longbridge and Redditch calling at several main town stations such as Sutton Coldfield, Erdington, Aston and of course Birmingham New Street. So if you are a shopper this is the station to get your train from. The office here is manned part-time and mainly covers the peak time slots. The staff are friendly and willing to help and they keep the car parks and surrounding areas clean and tidy. There are shelters on the platforms so if the heavens open up you can keep dry until your train arrives. This station is located on the outskirts of Four Oaks and has a large pub/restaurant next to it called the Blake Barn Inn. There is a small convenience store just a few minutes up from the station and a few minutes after that you are lead out onto the main Lichfield Road.

It's one of the quietest and relatively attractively-set stations on the Cross-City Line which…read morelinks Lichfield to Birmingham. A huge ticket office and car park boost the site and while there is a dingy underpass letting you switch platforms, it really is quite safe. Typical of the stations across the Sutton stretch of the line, the staff are particularly friendly. Despite the car park, it's not overly blessed as a viable park and ride option and over the years, residents have been increasingly complaining about commuters' ditched cars clogging up roads outside their homes. Do them a favour and drive to Four Oaks station (two stops along). That said, the location makes the activity tempting as it's just a short trip into Sutton Coldfield from here and, as the last stop within the northern end of the Birmingham boundary, also a short ride into Lichfield. If you've been using the station simply as a point to begin a rail journey, don't dismiss the idea of having a look around the estate on which it's based - the Blake Barn pub is nearby and scores not too badly with its outdoor seating and great meal deals.

Hall green station is actually quite nice. It's clean enough and has a full cover over the main…read moreplatform (towards Birmingham) with a shelter the opposite side (towards Stratford Upon Avon). This is a huge relief on a rainy morning, on your way into work! The ticket office is open most days, but does tend to close quite early - about 6-7pm. If it's closed, you can only use the permit to travel, but never put the full fare in there, as sometimes it swallows your money! I usually opt for 5p and pay the rest later. The one guy that works there is really lovely (the Asian guy) and always goes out of his way to help. I think his name is Harry - can anyone confirm? He always tries to make sure you get your train, by serving really quickly when they are due. He's also refunded and replaced my ticket when I bought the wrong one (keeping the incorrect ticket to sell to somebody else). There's not many people that would do that! The other guy that works there (older white guy) is a bit grumpy and not so helpful, but does his job well. Overall, I'd sat this is one of the better train stations in South Birmingham, at least and I never really feel in any danger there from anti-social behaviour.

You feel as though you could be waiting in a hamlet for your train to the local cattle market when…read moreyou're at Hall Green - that is if you ignore all the signs of inner-city neglect resulting in squalor and dilapidation. However it is in comparison to most train stations a very pleasant and quiet place to wait for your train. You can park your car for free and get Moor Street for around £3, so it's certainly one of the more economical ways of venturing into town. O how it brings back many fond memories when I visit there, of drunken commutes into the city-centre to search for life-meaning in off-licenses and clubs. Those days are past and I'm often the civilised human being that you observe but never may know who catches the train silently and obediently, with something of importance to him at the other end of the journey.

Historic old station is Sutton Coldfield, and one of the few on the Cross City line which manages…read moreto preserve it's old look and feel whilst still having modern facilities. The station has at least four different entrances which makes it easily accessible whichever direction you're travelling from. There's also a big car park and a new lift for disabled access. The Birmingham-bound platform has a self-service ticket machine which is ideal as it saves a long slog to the ticket office, the platform is also covered which helps on rainy days and there's a small newsagents which is run by a very friendly gentleman. One of the problems with the station is that the entrance next to the Station pub closes early which means you either have to walk all the way round to the main entrance on Railway Road or down a dark alley to enter the platform through a gate further down. If the gate's open, you might as well leave the door open a bit longer, surely?

This station just about offers a blast from the past; a window into how things were and cannot be…read moreagain. It was once the scene of a major rail tragedy back in the days of steam engines, but it's the waiting rooms and awnings which speak of the '50s loudest. For all that, despite the recent installation of a lift, things don't feel all that pleasant, with new infrastructure and branding making for a jarring experience. It always seems that bit too dingy and dusty. It's not that well laid-out either, with running commuters a common sight as they try to navigate their way up a ramp from the Lichfield-bound platform, through the ticket office, and down the steps to the Birmingham-bound platform. It's a journey in itself. This is why Four Oaks has a link bridge over the tracks. A handy tip now: The Birmingham platform (complete with auto-ticket machine) and indeed the stairs leading up to the ticket office can be accessed via a doorway at the end of Station Street by The Station Hotel pub. If you're already in the heart of commercial Sutton, this can save you the job of walking the incline to the formal Railway Road entrance. But be warned, this entrance is not always open and you could find yourself having to access the Railway Road entrance anyway, adding a precious minute or two onto your itinerary; not ideal if your train is due. There is parking, with access further along Railway Road. Both platforms are well-sheltered, all too rare on the Cross-City Line, and on the Birmingham-bound platform, there is a small shop. Near the shop is an access to Park Road; the fourth entrance / exit to the station.