New rail stations open in Coventry and Nuneaton

Two new West Midland rail stations were finally opened on Monday morning this week, following a £1.36m investment to improve services between Coventry and Nuneaton. The initiative also plans to develop the train route between Coventry to Leamington Spa.

The project has been led by public transport company Centro and the Coventry City and Warwickshire County councils. They also plan to build an additional platform in Coventry, a new station in Kenilworth and more frequent services across the network.

The new rail stations will be served by London Midland trains Photo: Aleix Cortés / Flickr

Funding was provided by the Department for Transport and the European Regional Development Fund.

The completed stations, New Bermuda Park in Nuneaton, and Coventry Arena near Ricoh stadium, were scheduled to open last June, but faced severe technical delays and administrative issues.

Transport councillor John McNicholas said: “It’s taken a while, certainly longer than we had hoped for, but finally stations will be open and I’m delighted about that.”

Councillors hope that New Bermuda Park and Coventry Arena, which provide 30 and 80 free parking spaces respectively, will improve access to jobs, shopping and recreation areas while also reducing local road traffic.

The project, however, has faced complaints since it announced last year that the Arena station will be closed for fans during matches and concerts, unless trains are sponsored especially for the events.

This is due to safety concerns over lack of capacity; currently the single-carriage trains are only able to transport 75 people every hour.

Rupert Toppin, a first-year Engineering student, commented: “I don’t see the new connection between Leamington and Coventry as being particularly useful. On the other hand, I might use it to go to Coventry on club nights.”

Bermuda Park marks the 150th station in the London Midland network.