The cross country rail main line from Birmingham to Cardiff, Bristol and the South West passes close to the east of Worcester, however there were no nearby stations on this line, and the cross country trains passed through Worcestershire without stopping. Worcestershire County Council therefore sought for many years to have a station on this line built near Worcester. The station is positioned a mile outside Worcester near the village of Norton, at the point where the cross country line passes under the Cotswold Line from Worcester to Oxford and London. It has two platforms on the former, and one on the latter, allowing interchange between the two lines. It is also close to Junction 7 on the M5, allowing Worcestershire residents to use the station as a 500-car park and ride to major cities, as well as into Worcester's Foregate Street and Shrub Hill stations, which is expected to relieve traffic and parking problems in Worcester itself.
Development
Funding
An outline business case was developed by Laing Rail in March 2006, which concluded in favour of the development of Worcestershire Parkway Regional Interchange. Worcestershire County Council set aside £3 million for park and ride facilities at the station in 2007. In October 2008 an e-petition was set up on the No 10 website calling for a Worcestershire Parkway. The Third Worcestershire Local Transport Plan cited Worcestershire Parkway Regional Interchange as the top transport priority for Worcestershire. It was also listed in the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy as a Sub Regional Priority, and featured in Policy T6 - Strategic Park and Ride. A revised business case was submitted to the Department for Transport's Rail Office, who gave their formal support to the project in 2012. In July 2014 the station was given funding as part of a government infrastructure fund distributed to local enterprise partnerships.
Concerns
Concerns were raised that the construction of Worcestershire Parkway would lead to reduced services at Worcester Foregate Street. However, this was rejected in 2014 by the deputy leader of Worcestershire County Council, Councillor Simon Geraghty, who said, "There has been no risk identified by Network Rail to existing railway stations."
Construction
Artist impressions were released in February 2015 and the council said that a planning application had been submitted, with a decision due to have been made during the summer of 2015. The plan was for work to commence by the spring of 2016 and the station was on track to open in summer 2017, the county council said. In February 2015, Worcestershire County Council advertised for contractors for the construction of the railway station to include platforms, station building, passenger footbridge and lifts with a commencement date of late September 2015 with completion in May 2017. On 25 August 2015planning permission was granted, with work expected to start in 2016. The cost of the scheme was estimated at £22m. A potential legal battle between Worcester County Council and Norton Parkway Developments, who currently own the land, started in 2016. Norton Parkway Developments refused to hand over the land to the council as they felt that they were in a position to complete the development themselves. In January 2017, WCC's plans for Worcestershire Parkway were approved by the DfT. In February 2017, clearance work on the site began, and Worcestershire County Council appointed Buckingham Group Contracting as the developer as part of a design and build deal. Construction work finally began in early 2018, with a planned opening date in 2019. In November 2019, it was announced that the station would open on 15 December 2019. This was later pushed back to an unspecified time "early in the New Year." In January 2020, it was announced that the station would be further delayed but opening was expected 'well before' the May timetable change. Phase 1 construction included the Cotswold Line, station building, interchange facilities, 300 space car park, road access and infrastructure for phase 2. This second phase included two new platforms on the Birmingham - Bristol Main Line, a footbridge between the Phase 1 and 2 platforms, and an additional 200 car parking spaces. Worcestershire Parkway opened to the public on Sunday 23 February 2020. The first train to serve the new station was the 8:29 GWR service to London Paddington. At 9:57 the first Train arrived from London Paddington. The first Cross Country service to serve the station was the 10:40 to Cardiff Central from Birmingham New Street.
Services
The station is served by both Worcester - Oxford/London and all Nottingham - Cardiff trains. The aim is for trains to travel to London in 2 hours or less. Phase 3 of the station's introduction will schedule additional Cross Country trains. Services at Worcestershire Parkway are operated by CrossCountry and Great Western Railway. The current off-peak service at the station in trains per hour is:
