Travel & Directions

 

Local - City Centre to University

The University of Birmingham has its own railway station. It is easily accessible by trains from New Street station in the city centre. There are frequent trains, around six per hour, to University station with a journey time of approximately 8 minutes. Return tickets should be bought at the station (cost currently £2.70 per day). Departures are usually from platform 11 or 12 with a destination of either Longbridge or Redditch. University is the second stop. The station is a 5 minute walk away from the conference venue.

International Travel

Birmingham International airport (BHX) is has many flights connecting to major European hub airports such as Amsterdam, Paris CDG and Frankfurt. There are also direct daily flights to Newark.

Those coming from further afield may find they gain some flexibility or perhaps avoid the need for an extra stop by flying in to London Heathrow (LHR). The journey from Heathrow to Birmingham via public transport can be made in 3 hours or less.

Other possibilities are London City (LCY) or Gatwick (LGW), also around 3 hours away; Manchester or East Midlands airports, around 2 hours journey.

Birmingham Airport to City Centre

Birmingham airport has a very frequent train service to New Street station in the city centre. Take a free, 90 second, ride in the Air-Rail link to Birmingham International station and buy your ticket (£3.30) for the 10 minute journey into Birmingham. Alternatively a taxi for the journey takes around 30 minutes, depending on traffic conditions.

Detailed instructions for other airports

Heathrow

There are several options (some details still to be updated)

  1. 1.Via London. Central London can be reached by Heathrow Express. Tickets are £34 for a return booked online. Trains run every 15 minutes and the journey time to London Paddington is 15 minutes (21 minutes for terminal 5). A cheaper option is to use the London Underground (map) service (£5.50 single ticket) with a journey time of 40 minutes on the Piccadily line to either Euston (change to Northern line at Leicester Square) or Marylebone (change to Bakerloo line at Piccadily circus) railway stations.

  2. a.Head to London Euston, which is on the Northern and Victoria (from Paddington take Bakerloo line and change at Oxford Circus) Underground lines, for a train to Birmingham with Virgin Trains - off-peak return £49. Cheaper tickets require advanced booking of trains which is not recommended for arriving flights. Journey time is around 1 hour 30 minutes and there are usually 2 or 3 trains per hour.

  3. b.Head to London Marylebone, on the Bakerloo Underground line (one stop or 2 minutes from Paddington), for train to Birmingham with Chiltern Railways - £27.50 for a ‘super off-peak’ return which can be bought at the station. This is a flexible fare valid all day at weekends with no need to reserve a specific train. Journey times are around 2 hours with two trains per hour. Free wi-fi on board.

  4. 2.Via Reading. This option not recommended for weekend travel due to major works at Reading Station. Take the RailAir coach service to Reading Railway Station. There are three coaches per hour during the week, the journey takes 50 minutes and costs £23 return (by e-ticket in advance). Then take a Cross Country train service to Birmingham with a journey time of 1 hour  40 minutes and two trains per hour.

  5. 3.Direct Heathrow-Birmingham National Express Coach service. Journey time around 2 hours 30 minutes. Cost is variable, between £12 and £30 in each direction and a specific coach should be booked in advance which will pose problems if your flight is delayed. Frequencies vary from three every two hours to only one every two hours!