Hartlebury station was opened by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway in 1852, and from 1862 it served as the starting point of the Severn Valley Railway, which ran to Shrewsbury in Shropshire, a distance of 40 miles. Through passenger trains over this route ended in September 1963, but local workings to Stourport-on-Severn & continued until January 1970 and coal trains to the power station at Stourport until 1979. The branch has since been lifted, though its formation can still be seen.