Great Malvern railway station

Great Malvern station was opened by the Worcester and Hereford Railway in 1860 and the present buildings, by architect Edmund Wallace Elmslie, were completed in 1862. The Midland Railway and the London and North Western Railway collaborated on the construction cost; the solicitor, Samuel Carter, held the same role for both of these major companies.^[2] It was later absorbed by the Great Western Railway.

Lady Emily Foley was a key sponsor of the building of Great Malvern station. She had a waiting room made for her exclusive use.^[3]

The station celebrated its 150th birthday on 23 May 2010, with the unveiling of a plaque and a special train.^[4][5] An additional part of this celebration was the reinstatement of some of the highly decorated lighting columns around the cab road, at the front of the station.

There was previously a branch line to Ashchurch, via Upton-on-Severn and Tewkesbury. Operated by the Midland Railway, it was closed in 1952.

Before May 2022, there was one through service to and from Brighton. This service has since been withdrawn.^[6]

The station buildings are built from local Malvern Rag stone and follow a French Gothic theme.^{[citation needed]}

A particular feature of the station are the deep canopies, which are supported by elaborate cast-iron girders; these in turn are supported by columns with elaborate capitals. These capitals are decorated with high relief mouldings depicting different arrangements of flowers and foliage.^[7] The sculptor, William Forsyth, was employed to work on the buildings and designed the metal capitals of the columns, which support the canopies above both platforms of the station.^[1]

At the end of platform 2 is the entrance to the Worm, an enclosed passageway that leads under Avenue Road into the former Imperial Hotel (now Malvern St James). It formed a private pedestrian access and is believed to be the only structure of its kind in the country.^[8] Although in need of extensive restoration and generally not open to the public, the Worm is itself Grade II listed.^[9]

There is a ticket office and an award-winning café which opened in 1984, named Lady Foley's Tea Room, after Lady Emily Foley, on the London-bound platform.^[10][11][12]

In 2023, Network Rail spent £8 million on restoration of the platform canopies, sculptures, overhead glazing and ironwork. The Victorian station clock is now also working following an £8,000 restoration in 2021 after having been stuck for over three years.^[13] The work included replacing all the glass in the station canopies.^[14]

The station is served by two train operating companies:

• Great Western Railway operates a roughly hourly service to London Paddington, via the Cotswold Line and Oxford; some of these run to/from Hereford and every two hours to Bristol Temple Meads, via Gloucester. Many Bristol services continue onwards to Westbury and Weymouth.^[15]

• West Midlands Railway, which also manages the station, operates services every hour to Birmingham New Street, via Worcester Foregate Street and Hereford. There are also some services to Whitlocks End and Dorridge via the Snow Hill Lines. A handful of services start or terminate here each day, to/from Worcester and Birmingham.^[16]

More information Preceding station, National Rail ...

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Colwall		Great Western Railway Cotswold Line		Malvern Link
		Great Western Railway Great Malvern–Bristol
		West Midlands Railway Birmingham–Hereford
Terminus		West Midlands Railway Birmingham–Great Malvern
	Disused railways
Terminus		Tewkesbury and Malvern Railway Midland Railway		Malvern Hanley Road Line and station closed

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