Birmingham New Street (Main)

Birmingham New Street station is a British railway station located in the heart of Birmingham, England. Birmingham New Street Station is Birmingham's main railway station and an important hub station in the UK's rail network. Among the British railway companies, the British Longitudinal Railway, the London Midland, the Virgin Railway, and the Arriva Welsh Railway have trains with Birmingham as the starting or terminating station.

Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main train stations in Birmingham, England. It is the central hub of the British railway system. It is the main destination for the Virgin train service in London Euston, Glasgow Centre and Edinburgh Waverley via the West Coast Route. The station has the widest range of trains in the UK, with long-distance train services from Aberdeen to Penzance destinations. It is also a major hub for local and suburban services in West Midlands.

The station is named after a new street, the new street is parallel to the station, and the station has entrances to Stephenson Street, Smallbrook Queensway, Hill Street and Navigation Street. About 80% of the train services to Birmingham pass through New Street. Since 2016, New Street is served by tram line and the adjacent Grand Central tram stop is located outside the main entrance of Stephenson Street. This station is the end of line 1.

Bedford Station

Birmingham ( BUR-ming-əm, locally also BUR-min-əm) is a major city in the West Midlands, England and is the second-largest city and metropolitan area in England and the United Kingdom, with roughly 1.1 million inhabitants within the city area and 3.8 million inhabitants within the metropolitan area. This also makes Birmingham the 17th largest city and 8th largest metropolitan area in the European Union. Birmingham is commonly referred to as the nation's "second city".Located in the West Midlands county and region in England, approximately 100 miles from central London, Birmingham, as one of the United Kingdom's major cities, is considered to be the social, cultural, financial, and commercial centre of both the East and West Midlands. Distinctively, Birmingham does not have a natural river flowing through any part of the city – one of the closest rivers is the Severn, approximately 20 miles west of the city centre. Birmingham's urban area is the third-largest in the United Kingdom, with its most recently estimated population in 2017 being 2,897,303, and it also lies within the most populated English district. A market town in the medieval period, Birmingham grew in the 18th-century Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw advances in science, technology, and economic development, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society. By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world". Birmingham's distinctive economic profile, with thousands of small workshops practising a wide variety of specialised and highly skilled trades, encouraged exceptional levels of creativity and innovation and provided an economic base for prosperity that was to last into the final quarter of the 20th century. The Watt steam engine was invented in Birmingham.The resulting high level of social mobility also fostered a culture of political radicalism which, under leaders from Thomas Attwood to Joseph Chamberlain, was to give it a political influence unparalleled in Britain outside London, and a pivotal role in the development of British democracy. From the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1943, Birmingham was bombed heavily by the German Luftwaffe in what is known as the Birmingham Blitz. The damage done to the city's infrastructure, in addition to a deliberate policy of demolition and new building by planners, led to extensive urban regeneration in subsequent decades. Birmingham's economy is now dominated by the service sector. The city is a major international commercial centre, ranked as a beta- world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network the joint highest ranking with Edinburgh and Manchester of all British cities outside of London; and an important transport, retail, events and conference hub. Its metropolitan economy is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $121.1bn (2014), and its six universities make it the largest centre of higher education in the country outside London. Birmingham's major cultural institutions – the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the Library of Birmingham and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts – enjoy international reputations, and the city has vibrant and influential grassroots art, music, literary and culinary scenes. The city will host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Birmingham is the fourth-most visited city in the UK by foreign visitors.People from Birmingham are called Brummies, a term derived from the city's nickname of "Brum", which originates from the city's old name, Brummagem, which in turn is thought to have derived from "Bromwich-ham". The Brummie accent and dialect are particularly distinctive.

Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area was 106,940, while that within its traditional boundary was 87,590. At the same census, the Borough of Bedford had a population of 157,479.Bedford was founded at a ford on the River Great Ouse, and is thought to have been the burial place of Offa of Mercia. Bedford Castle was built by Henry I, although it was destroyed in 1224. Bedford was granted borough status in 1165 and has been represented in Parliament since 1265. It is known for its large population of Italian descent.Bedford is on the Midland Main Line, with stopping services to London and Brighton operated by Thameslink, and express services to London and the East Midlands operated by East Midlands Railway.