History
The original station was built in 1838 as part of the London and Birmingham Railway and could be entered from Warwick Road, where two flights of stairs took the passengers down to the platform. Within two years it had been replaced, with a new larger station, a few hundred feet nearer to Rugby, this time, accessed via Eaton road. In the late 19th century the Coventry Tram network extended to the station at Eaton Road. The original station remained in service as the station masters offices, until the station was redeveloped in the early 1960s.
The new 1840 station saw a significant number of modifications and extensions over the years, there was an engine shed, water column and turntable, in its later days an inclined walkway from the platform directly to Warwick road for summer excursions, and a parcel depot formed from old carriages. However, The station was constrained by bridges at either end of the station, Stoney Road Bridge to the south, and Warwick road bridge to the north. The bridges effectively restricted the station to two lines, and prevented the platforms from being extended.
In the early 1960s both bridges were widened, and the old station finally demolished and re-built, this time with room for four platforms instead of two. At the time it was demolished in 1960, some parts of the old station were 120 years old. The present station with its four platforms was completed in 1962 and is now a Grade-II listed building.
The new station featured a new parcel depot, used to manage the large number of mail order catalogue packages coming in to Coventry at the time. The depot was serviced by its own platforms from the Rugby end. The Depot has now been replaced by a multi-story car park, although some of the platforms and an electrification gantry remain.
Coventry Station is of note in that it once had automatic ticket barriers but Virgin Trains removed them in 2008.
Read more about this topic: Coventry Railway Station
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