Had a great experience catching a train from here to London. Quick drop off by my Uber at the drop…read moreoff and. A quick walk inside the station and they thought of the ones with suitcases and had a non step entrance! Yay! That's what they call it ! We grabbed a quick coffee and found our platform easily and thankfully they have escalators. The train had just pulled in and we were able to get on and get settled and took off right on time . Found a spot for our suitcases as soon as we get on close to our seats which we had reserved and were easy to find. Smooth ride and very efficient. Would go from here again if I need to. Nice central Birmingham location too.

This is a pretty massive station, though to be honest it can be pretty annoying to make your way…read morearound. Like, there are four zones, no doubt matching the platforms where the trains arrive. The thing is that you have to touch off and touch on to move between the zones. However, they happen to have quite a lot of shops here, and pubs, yeah, they have pubs as well, and a place to dump your bags as well, which is pretty cool.

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.

It looks like this station had been knocked down and had a car park built on top of it, which is…read moresort of odd considering that it happens to be in the middle of Birmingham. Yeah, as a station I can't say that it was all that fantastic. Mind you, I didn't actually catch a train from here, I just visited it and had a look around.

Birmingham Snow Hill reminds me of Manchester Oxford Road: one of the city's main railway stations…read moreyet all services call at a larger station (In this case being Birmingham Moor Street), with minimal facilities (nothing much inside the station other than multiple stores outside on Colmore Row and the Cathedral nearby). The station is managed by West Midlands Trains yet also served on the London-Kiddleminister route by Chiltern Railways. The service into London takes slightly longer than going with Avanti into New Street, however, it goes into Marleybone which is more useful if you're planning to go to the West of London. The station is step-free and the small ticket office is open at reasonable times one would expect to be able to get a train from, it is a cold, basic station with minimal facilities but provides useful connections at that part of town which of course can't rival the large, modern New Street station nearby. 2*

Why do I always think this is closer to Broad street than it is. I end up rushing for a train…read morepretty much everytime. Id say to be safe leave 30 mins from the middle of Broad street.......don't let this station catch you out too! The train station itself is actually one of the most basic in town....it has stairs....and platforms but what else do you really need. Take your own snickers and diet coke as you are not getting here. The trains come....they go.....how can it not be A-OK....3*

Depending on where you're going in the City Centre, this Station could well be a better bet than…read morethe main New Street Station if, as I do, you travel along the Lichfield line from North to South. The journey from New Street to 5 Ways on the train can be a bit misleading - after spending several minutes in the tunnels under the city and then trundling along the tracks, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd left the bustle of town, but in actual fact this station is probably an equal walking distance to many of the city's attractions as New Street. If you are visiting Brindley Place, the Ikon Gallery or, Lord help you, Broad Street, then you are probably better off alighting here. Once exiting, look to your left and you'll see 5 Way traffic island a few hundred yards away. Much better than dealing with the insanely busy New Street and environs. The station is pretty tiny - particularly when viewed from the road as only the entrance is visible - and it can get very busy around rush hour as there are several large office buildings nearby, so plan your arrival around that if you don't want to deal with crowds.

Has to be one of the worst train operators going. First week of new timetable and there are already…read moredelays without an explanation or apology. Chiltern no longer serve the area, which is a shame as they run on time and operate clean trains that are actually nice to sit on. WMR needs to stop over promising and under delivering. Appalling.

West Midlands Trains are the Train operator which replaced London Midland in December 2017 and are…read morecontinued to operate the route until 2026. Most of the trains remain the same from London Midland, perhaps with a splash of paint and even the trains are still sometimes stated as London Midland as it shares the same abbreviation as its predecessor (LM). West Midlands is the brand name, however, some trains are styled as London Northwestern Railway depending on the route, London Northwestern Railway is mainly used for services around and into London. West Midlands provides multiple services such as Birmingham to Liverpool, London to Birmingham, London to Crewe and London to Tring, calling at stations such as Wembley Central, Watford, Stoke, Birmingham International, Wolverhampton and others depending on the route. It is worth noting however if you travel with West Midlands from London Euston to Wembley Central, despite both stations having wheelchair access this route does not as it arrives in on a platform which lacks access, so this route wouldn't be appropriate. The trains seem nice enough for shorter term travel, obviously they don't seem as nice as other providers I've used such as CrossCountry and Virgin Trains and even the new TransPennine Express trains which are slowly being introduced, but they are still OK. I've had a mix of journeys running on time and late with this operator, I must say the delay repay scheme with West Midlands is one of the longer, more frustrating and difficult processes I've used when trying to claim for a delay, having previously claimed with Virgin Trains and TransPennine, this is sadly the worst. Satisfactory train provider - although could provide more information to customers in event of delay, accessibility which may vary depending on route chosen and customer service on board. - Two stars.

If you don't fancy catching the train, then you have the option of getting on a coach. Birmingham…read moreCoach Station is just a five-minute walk from the City Centre and is easily accessible by car and public transport. I have been here whenever I have travelled to Leicester and London. The coaches are regularly on time and I have not had any issues with this place. If you are waiting for your coach, you can always grab a coffee at Starbucks or you can even go to WHS Smith to buy a newspaper/magazine or even some sweets. The one downer is the fact you have to pay to use the toilets. I just find that ridiculous. But there is a toilet on the coach if that is any consolation. From here you can get on coaches that will take you to cities across England, Scotland and Wales. National Express, Ulsterbus and Eurolines are the three operators that operate at this coach station. And I have also found it is a lot cheaper to travel by coach than train. It is not that expensive to travel by coach. The staff here are very friendly and they will answer any questions/queries you have. An excellent station in my view and one I will continue to visit.

The sign that greets you says 'a hundred thousand welcomes'* and on the other side of the coach…read morestation is probably my favourite bit of public art EVER - a big graffiti style mural that reads 'welcome to Digbeth bab'. This is in marked contrast to the welcome you used to receive at Birmingham Coach Station which generally consisted of stumbling around in a dimly lit car-park, narrowly missing being run over by a bus, hassled for money by men who smelt a bit funny and stepping over the pools of vomit outside the Dubliner. I've known loads of people who when they've heard I'm from Birmingham get a funny look in their eye simply because of their experiences of arriving by coach. Anyway it's all changed - the old building was torn down in 2007 and the new building officially reopened in 2009 by (bizarrely) Fabio Capello. It's a different beast all together - the space is light and airy and the signs actually make sense. You can hear the announcements. The toilets are okay. And there's a Starbucks. * In Irish this is "C'ead Mile Failte" so the sign is obviously a nod to the Irish history of the region. Step into any of the pubs round Digbeth and you're likely to see these words over the bar.

There can't be too many railway stations in Birmingham which have their own Facebook page which…read morequestions the point of their existence. Duddeston is the owner of that not-so-proud title. Duddeston is the first station (but not necessarily first stop) if you're heading from New Street towards Walsall or Lichfield. Back in the day, it was called Vauxhall and was what the Victorians may have called a station of means. It needed four platforms and was also home to an engine shed and carriage shed. These days the carriage shed is long gone, the engine shed has been bricked up for at least 15 years and two of the four platforms are disused. Apart from the two platforms which remain in use, Duddeston is a station surrounded by rusting tracks, weeds and signals permanently on red for lines which aren't there anymore. In the 90s there were some attempts at modern art put on the platforms to brighten the place up. These too are now rusty and unloved. Trains sometimes stop here but unless you've got business in this part of the inner city, it's a place to be avoided. Especially avoid it in bad weather as the long, open-air platforms have only one bus-shelter style stand to protect you from the elements.

If you were to 'check-in' to Duddeston Station on Foursquare (or should I say Swarm?), you will see…read moreseveral comments describing the station a "wack". Whack seems to be the general consensus around this particular station. I'm not too bothered by it myself. I grew up in Bromsgrove, which also just has a platform and a bridge. Duddeston's facilities are higher than that, boasting an albeit rarely open ticket office, and a bus stop style shelter. Perhaps one day Duddeston will become homogenised for consumption and feature a big brand coffee chain. So as people can get their 'one shot decaf skinny caramel latte' on the way to and from the city. It can however, be refreshing to be somewhere where no one's trying to sell you anything. Whilst the 'Cross City Line' runs at intervals of 10 minutes; only one in three of these trains stop at Duddeston, this can be rather frustrating. There is a ghost platform overran with weeds, as are the tracks that used to serve it. At some point in the past, this was a four platform station. Now it barely manages two. Just by the station, one can also see disused industrial sheds. Echoing a life that once was. At some point, there has been a rather awful attempt to install some public art on the platform. These are like black metal signs with some bad imagery on them. I'm not sure when they were installed, but they're rather rusty now. Duddeston is handy for the BM&AG Collections Centre (which they open to the public once a year) and is a little closer than New St for Millenium Point. If you're into trains; it is very close to Aston Signal Box. I'm not really sure if this is a point of interest, but it could be.

Chiltern's head office is actually based in Banbury, but they are well worth mentioning in a…read moreBirmingham context. They provide trains that run from Snow Hill and Moor Street to London Marylebone, with various stops at nice places like Banbury, Bicester and Harrow-on-the-Hill. I personally find travelling into Marylebone a far more relaxing experience than the New Street journey into Euston. The prices always strike me as more reasonable too, with an off-peak return fixed at £25.00. Chiltern Trains are in much better condition than the Virgin trains and they provide FREE WIFI on routes out of Moor Street, which is pretty awesome. I get quite gushy when talking about Chiltern, but I honestly think that their standard class beats Virgin First Class.

It's the free wifi that gets @chilternrailway the extra star. Not that it always works so not…read moreideal if you're 100% relying on it but certainly handy for emails. Chiltern have some shiny new trains which are clean and comfortable. Going from Moor St or Snow Hill (or both) adds to the convenience with the back entrance of Snow Hill being a mere 5 minute brisk walk from home for me. They also get you from Brum to London in 1 hour 39 minutes if you get on the right train! As with all train journeys, the further in advance you book, the less you pay too. Both stations have the glorious Centenary Lounge which is a bonus but there is often a refreshments trolly on board, which I 'm told they try and have on as many journeys as possible. Chiltern offer a great service too. I know trains don't run always (!) run on time on any network and it's not alway the fault of the train company but as long as they keep us informed, eh.

Jewellery Quarter Railway Station is mainly used by West Midlands Trains, yet also provides…read moreChiltern services occasionally, it is a really small station being used by under a million people annually. More importantly, it also has West Midlands Metro services providing trams into Wolverhampton and Birmingham, if you're heading into the city centre of Birmingham this is the LAST STOP in the city zone meaning you can go all the way from here to Central Library for just £1.50. The station is a little confusing to navigate, I personally struggled to find the trams platform as the signposting stopped and then the tram platform is basically located in the middle of Platform 2, and with it being an unstaffed station most of the time, that made it a little trickier. I ended up missing one of my trams and came close to boarding the wrong one (Wolverhampton bound rather than Birmingham), it just wasn't clear enough. It does have lifts for both platforms making the station step-free, if you're planning to travel on the train and require disabled access this means you have to prebook and try to signal for the conductor as all trains passing through here have conductors to help assist customers when required to get on and off the train. Pretty basic station, yet still providing railway and tram services from the Jewellery Quarter into the city centre for those who don't fancy the mile or so walk (like me) is pretty handy even if the station is pretty crappy. 2*

Choo choo! Trains come here, sometimes on time, sometimes not. Ticket office seems forever closed,…read morethe ticket machine is usually out of order, and the permit machine switched off. Station needs a good clean, the stairs are filthy. There are lots of stairs, a good workout.