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The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
with branches to
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
,
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
,
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
and
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
. It is one of the busiest mixed-traffic railway routes in Europe, carrying a mixture of
intercity rail Inter-city rail services are Express train, express trains that run services that connect cities over longer distances than Commuter rail, commuter or Regional rail, regional trains. They include rail services that are neither short-distance co ...
,
regional rail Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...
,
commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...
and rail freight traffic. The core route of the WCML runs from London to Glasgow for approx. and was opened from 1837 to 1881. With additional lines deviating to
Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...
, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh, this totals a route mileage of . The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line connects the WCML to Edinburgh. However, the main London–Edinburgh route is the
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...
. Several sections of the WCML form part of the suburban railway systems in London,
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, with many more smaller commuter stations, as well as providing links to more rural towns. It is one of the busiest freight routes in Europe, carrying 40% of all UK rail freight traffic. The line is the principal rail freight corridor linking the European mainland (via the
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
) through London and South East England to the West Midlands, North West England and Scotland. The line has been declared a strategic European route and designated a priority Trans-European Networks (TENS) route. A number of railway writers refer to it as "The Premier line". The WCML was not originally conceived as a single route, but was built as a patchwork of local lines which were linked together, built by various companies, the largest of which amalgamated in 1846 to create the
London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...
(LNWR), which then gradually absorbed most of the others; the exceptions were the Caledonian Railway in Scotland, and the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) which both remained independent until 1923. The core route was mostly built between the 1830s and 1850s, but several cut-off routes and branches were built in later decades. In 1923, the entire route came under the ownership of the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...
(LMS) when the railway companies were grouped under the
Railways Act 1921 The Railways Act 1921 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 5. c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an act of Parliament enacted by the British government, and was intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grou ...
. The LMS itself was
nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with ...
in 1947 to form part of
British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...
(BR). As the WCML is the most important long-distance railway trunk route in the UK, BR carried out an extensive programme of modernisation of it between the late 1950s and early 1970s, which included full overhead
electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...
of the route, and the introduction of modern intercity passenger services at speeds of up to . Further abortive modernisation schemes were proposed, including the introduction of the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) in the 1980s; an ill-fated high speed train which used tilting technology, which was required to allow faster speeds on the curving route, and the abortive
InterCity 250 The InterCity 250 was an electric railway project undertaken by British Rail in the late 1980s. The InterCity 250 train would have consisted of a Class 93 electric locomotive, nine Mark 5 coaches and a Mark 5 Driving Van Trailer operating in ...
project in the early-1990s. Further modernisation of the route finally occurred during the 2000s in the period of
privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...
, which saw speeds raised further to and the introduction of tilting Class 390 ''Pendolino'' trains. As much of the line has a maximum speed of , it meets the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
's definition of an upgraded high-speed line, although only Class 390 Pendolinos with tilting mechanisms operated by Avanti West Coast travel at that speed. Non-tilting trains are limited to .


Geography

The spine between London Euston and is long, with principal
InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...
stations at , , , , , , , , , , and . The spine has bypasses serving the major towns and cities of
Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...
,
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
, Birmingham and
Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...
. Spurs serve
Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...
,
Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...
,
Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
, Manchester,
Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...
and
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
. There is also a branch to
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, at
Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs r ...
in Scotland, although this is not the most direct route between London and Edinburgh. It provides a direct connection between the WCML and the
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...
. Originally, the lines between , and were part of the main spine, until the Trent Valley Line was built in 1847. This line formed a direct connection between Rugby and Stafford becoming the a part of the spine. South of Rugby, there is a bypass loop that serves . There is a spur at Weaver Junction north of to . Weaver Junction on this branch is the oldest flyover-type junction in Britain. A spur branches off from Crewe to serve
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
. There is also a spur between Colwich Junction in the Trent Valley, south of Stafford to Stoke-on-Trent, with another spur north of Stafford, also to Stoke-on-Trent. The geography of the route was determined by avoiding large estates and hilly areas, such as the Chilterns ( Tring Cutting); the Watford Gap and Northampton uplands, followed by the Trent Valley; the mountains of
Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, with a summit at Shap; and Beattock Summit in
South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It borders the south-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains some of Greater Glasgow's suburban towns, as well as many rural towns and villages. It also shares bor ...
. This legacy means the WCML has limitations as a long-distance main line, with lower maximum speeds than the
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...
(ECML) route, the other main line between London and Scotland. The principal solution has been the adoption of
tilting train A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train (or other vehicle) rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about ...
s, initially with
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...
's APT and latterly the ''
Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian language, Italian "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of high-speed tilting trains (and non-tilting) used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, ...
'' trains constructed by
Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
and introduced by
Virgin Trains Virgin Trains (VT) (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West C ...
in 2003. A 'conventional' attempt to raise line speeds as part of the
InterCity 250 The InterCity 250 was an electric railway project undertaken by British Rail in the late 1980s. The InterCity 250 train would have consisted of a Class 93 electric locomotive, nine Mark 5 coaches and a Mark 5 Driving Van Trailer operating in ...
upgrade in the 1990s would have relaxed maximum cant levels on curves and seen some track realignments; this scheme faltered for lack of funding in the economic climate of the time.


History


Pre-grouping, 1837–1923

The early history of the WCML is complex, as it was not originally conceived as a single trunk route, but was built as a patchwork of separate lines by different companies, mostly during the 1830s and 1840s, but some parts were opened as late as the 1880s. After the completion of the pioneering
Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It ...
in 1830, schemes were mooted to build more inter-city lines. The business practice of the early railway era was for companies to promote individual lines between two destinations, rather than to plan grand networks of lines, as it was considered easier to obtain backing from investors. The first stretch of what is now the WCML was the
Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846. The line built by the company, which opened in 1837, linked the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to Birmingham via Warri ...
connecting the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to Birmingham, via , , and , opening in 1837. The following year the London and Birmingham Railway was completed, connecting to the capital via , and the Watford Gap. The Grand Junction and London and Birmingham railways shared a Birmingham terminus at Curzon Street station, so that it was now possible to travel by train between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. These lines, together with the Trent Valley Railway (between Rugby and Stafford, avoiding Birmingham) and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway (Crewe–Manchester), amalgamated operations in
1846 Events January–March * January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom. * January 13 – The Milan–Venice railway's bridge, over the Venetian Lagoon betwee ...
to form the
London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...
(LNWR). Three other companies, the North Union Railway ( Parkside–Wigan–Preston), the
Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway The Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway opened its twenty-mile line in 1840 in Lancashire, England. The company was not commercially successful. When the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway opened in 1846, the L&PJR became part of a busy trunk rai ...
and the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, completed a through route to by the end of 1846, these were later absorbed by the LNWR. North of Carlisle, the Caledonian Railway remained independent, and opened its main line from Carlisle to on 10 September 1847, connecting to Edinburgh in February 1848, and to Glasgow in November 1849. The route to Scotland was marketed by the LNWR as 'The Premier Line'. Because the cross-border trains ran over the LNWR and Caledonian Railway, through trains consisted of jointly owned "West Coast Joint Stock" to simplify operations. The first direct London to Glasgow trains in the 1850s took 12.5hours to complete the journey. Another important section, the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR), which opened its route in 1848 from (connecting with the LNWR from Manchester) to Stafford and Colwich Junction via , also remained independent. The NSR provided a useful alternative route to Manchester, however poor relations between the LNWR and the NSR meant that through trains did not run until 1867. The final sections of what is now the WCML were put in place over the following decades. A direct branch to , bypassing the earlier Liverpool and Manchester line, was opened in 1869, from Weaver Junction north of to Ditton Junction via the Runcorn Railway Bridge over the
River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...
. At the northern end, the Caledonian replaced its original terminus in Glasgow, with the much larger and better located in 1879. To expand capacity, the line between London and Rugby was widened to four tracks in the 1870s. As part of this work, a new line, the Northampton Loop, was built, opening in 1881, connecting before rejoining the main line at Rugby.


LMS, 1923–1948

The entire route came under the control of the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with London and North Eastern Railway, LNER, Great Western Railway, GWR and Southern Railway (UK), SR. The London, Midland an ...
(LMS) on 1 January 1923 when the railway companies were grouped, under the
Railways Act 1921 The Railways Act 1921 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 5. c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an act of Parliament enacted by the British government, and was intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grou ...
. The LMS competed fiercely with the rival LNER's
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...
for London to Scotland traffic (see Race to the North). Attempts were made to minimise end-to-end journey times for a small number of powerful lightweight trains that could be marketed as glamorous premium crack expresses, especially between London and Glasgow, such as the 1937–39 Coronation Scot, hauled by
streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady flow, steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the f ...
Princess Coronation Class locomotives, which made the journey in 6hours 30minutes, making it competitive with the rival East Coast Flying Scotsman (British Railways in the 1950s could not match this, but did achieve a London-Glasgow timing of 7hours 15minutes in the 1959–60 timetable by strictly limiting the number of coaches to eight and not stopping between London and Carlisle.)


British Rail, 1948–1997

In 1948, following
nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...
, the line came under the control of
British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commis ...
'
London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Gov ...
and Scottish Regions, when the term "West Coast Main Line" came into use officially, although it had been used informally since at least 1912.


Modernisation by British Rail

As part of the
1955 modernisation plan Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first Nuclear marine propulsion, nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18â ...
, British Rail carried out a large programme of modernisation of the WCML in stages between 1959 and 1974; the modernisation involved upgrading the track and signaling to allow higher speeds, rebuilding a number of stations, and
electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...
of the route with overhead line equipment. The first stretch to be upgraded and electrified was Crewe to Manchester, completed on 12 September 1960. This was followed by Crewe to Liverpool, completed on 1 January 1962. Electrification was then extended south to London. The first electric trains from London ran on 12 November 1965, with a full public service to Manchester and Liverpool launched on 18 April 1966. Electrification of both the Birmingham branch, and the routes to Manchester via was completed on 6 March 1967, allowing electric services to commence to those destinations. In March 1970 the government approved electrification of the northern half of the WCML, between Weaver Junction (where the branch to Liverpool diverges) and Glasgow, and this was completed on 6 May 1974. The announcement, after five years of uncertainty, was made 48hours before the writ was issued for a by-election in South Ayrshire. ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'' commented that, if the £25 million decision was politically rather than financially motivated, it would have the makings of a major political scandal. A new set of high-speed long-distance services was introduced in 1966, launching British Rail's highly successful "
Inter-City Inter-city rail services are Express train, express trains that run services that connect cities over longer distances than Commuter rail, commuter or Regional rail, regional trains. They include rail services that are neither short-distance co ...
" brand (the hyphen was later dropped) and offering journey times as London to Birmingham in 1 hour 35 minutes, and London to Manchester or Liverpool in 2hours 40minutes (and even 2hours 30minutes for the twice-daily Manchester Pullman). This represented a big improvement on the 3hours 30minutes to Manchester and Liverpool of the fastest steam service. A new feature was that these fast trains were offered on a regular-interval service throughout the day: initially hourly to Birmingham, two-hourly to Manchester, and so on. The service proved to be so popular that in 1972 these InterCity service frequencies were doubled to deal with increased demand. With the completion of the northern electrification in 1974, London to Glasgow journey times were reduced from 6hours to 5. Along with electrification came modern coaches such as the
Mark 2 Mark 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In this chapter, the first arguments between Jesus and other Jewish religious teachers appear. Jesus heals a paralyzed man and forgives his sins, mee ...
and from 1974 the fully integral, air-conditioned
Mark 3 Mark 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It relates a conflict over healing on the Sabbath, the commissioning of the Twelve Apostles, a conflict with the Jerusalem scribes and a meeting of ...
design. These remained the mainstay of express services until the early 2000s. Line speeds were raised to a maximum , and these trains, hauled by and electric locomotives, came to be seen as BR's flagship passenger service. Passenger traffic on the WCML doubled between 1962 and 1975. The modernisation also saw the demolition and redevelopment of several of the key stations on the line: BR was keen to symbolise the coming of the "electric age" by replacing the Victorian-era buildings with new structures built from glass and concrete. Notable examples were , , , and . To enable the latter, the famous Doric Arch portal into the original
Philip Hardwick Philip Hardwick (15 June 1792 in London – 28 December 1870) was an English architect, particularly associated with railway stations and warehouses in London and elsewhere. Hardwick is probably best known for London's demolished Euston Arch ...
-designed terminus was demolished in 1962 amid much public outcry. Electrification of the Edinburgh branch was carried out in the late 1980s as part of the
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...
electrification project in order to allow
InterCity 225 The InterCity 225 is an electric push-pull train, push-pull high speed train in the United Kingdom, comprising a British Rail Class 91, Class 91 electric locomotive, nine British Rail Mark 4, Mark 4 coaches and a Driving Van Trailer (DVT). The ...
sets to access Glasgow via Carstairs Junction. Modernisation brought great improvements in speed and frequency. However some locations and lines were no longer served by through trains or through coaches from London, such as: ; , and ; , , and (via Stockport); ; (via Stockport); and ; (via ); and . Notable also is the loss of through services between Liverpool and Scotland; however these were restored by
TransPennine Express TransPennine Trains Limited, trading as TransPennine Express (TPE), is a British train operating company that has operated passenger services in the TransPennine Express franchise area since May 2023. It runs regional and inter-city rail ser ...
in 2019. British Rail introduced the Advanced Passenger Train APT project, which proved that London–Glasgow WCML journey times of less than 4hours were achievable and paved the way for the later tilting Virgin ''
Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian language, Italian "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of high-speed tilting trains (and non-tilting) used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, ...
'' trains. In the late 1980s, British Rail put forward a track realignment scheme to raise speeds on the WCML; a proposed project called
InterCity 250 The InterCity 250 was an electric railway project undertaken by British Rail in the late 1980s. The InterCity 250 train would have consisted of a Class 93 electric locomotive, nine Mark 5 coaches and a Mark 5 Driving Van Trailer operating in ...
, which entailed realigning parts of the line in order to increase curve radii and smooth gradients in order to facilitate higher-speed running. The scheme, which would have seen the introduction of new rolling stock derived from that developed for the East Coast electrification, was scrapped in 1992.


Privatisation, 1997–present

As part of the
privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...
in the 1990s, the infrastructure was taken over in 1994 by the private company
Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the railroad, track, railway signalling, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the railway station, stations of the Transport in England#Rail, British railway syste ...
, which later collapsed in 2002, and was replaced by the not-for-profit company
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...
. WCML's InterCity services became part of the
InterCity West Coast InterCity West Coast (ICWC) was a 1997–2019 railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (and branches thereof), between London Euston, the West Midlands, North Wales, Liverpool, Manchester, Car ...
franchise, which was won by
Virgin Trains Virgin Trains (VT) (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West C ...
who took over in 1997. In 2019, Avanti West Coast won the new
West Coast Partnership The West Coast Partnership (WCP) is a railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) (and branches thereof), between London Euston, the West Midlands, Shropshire, North Wales, Liverpool, Manch ...
franchise, taking over from Virgin Trains.


Modernisation by Railtrack and Network Rail

By the dawn of the 1990s, it was clear that further modernisation was required. Initially this took the form of the InterCity 250 project. The modernisation plan unveiled by Virgin and the new infrastructure owner Railtrack involved the upgrade and renewal of the line to allow the use of tilting ''Pendolino'' trains with a maximum line speed of , in place of the previous maximum of . Railtrack estimated that this upgrade would cost £2 billion, be ready by 2005, and cut journey times to 1 hour for London to Birmingham and 1 hr 45 mins for London to Manchester. However, these plans proved too ambitious and were subsequently scaled back. The upgrade was described as "a classic example of disastrous project management". Central to the implementation of the plan was the adoption of moving block signalling, which had never been proven on anything more than simple metro lines and light rail systems – not on a complex high-speed heavy-rail network such as the WCML. Despite this, Railtrack made what would prove to be the fatal mistake of not properly assessing the technical viability and cost of implementing moving block prior to promising the speed increase to Virgin and the government. By 1999, with little headway on the modernisation project made, it became apparent to engineers that the technology was not mature enough to be used on the line. The bankruptcy of Railtrack in 2001 and its replacement by
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...
following the Hatfield crash brought a reappraisal of the plans, while the cost of the upgrade soared. Following fears that cost overruns on the project would push the final price tag to £13 billion, the plans were scaled down, bringing the cost down to between £8 billion and £10 billion, to be ready by 2008, with a maximum speed for tilting trains of a more modest – equalling the speeds available on the East Coast route, but some way short of the original target, and even further behind BR's original vision of speeds planned and achieved with the APT. The first phase of the upgrade, south of Manchester, opened on 27 September 2004 with journey times of 1hour 21minutes for London to Birmingham and 2hours 6minutes for London to Manchester. The final phase, introducing running along most of the line, was announced as opening on 12 December 2005, bringing the fastest journey between London and Glasgow to 4hours 25mins (down from 5hours 10minutes). However, considerable work remained, such as the quadrupling of the track in the Trent Valley, upgrading the slow lines, the second phase of remodelling Nuneaton, and the remodelling of Stafford, Rugby, Milton Keynes and Coventry stations, and these were completed in late 2008. The upgrading of the Crewe–Manchester line via Wilmslow was completed in summer 2006. In September 2006, a new speed record was set on the WCML â€“ a Pendolino train completed the Glasgow Central â€“ London Euston run in a record 3hours 55minutes, beating the APT's record of 4hours 15minutes, although the APT still holds the overall record on the northbound run. The decade-long modernisation project was finally completed in December 2008. This allowed Virgin's VHF (very high frequency) timetable to be progressively introduced through early 2009, the highlights of which are a three-trains-per-hour service to both Birmingham and Manchester during off-peak periods, and nearly all London-Scottish timings brought under the 4hours 30minutes barrier â€“ with one service (calling only at Preston) achieving a London–Glasgow time of 4hours 8minutes. Some projects that were removed from the modernisation as a result of the de-scoping, such as a flyover at Norton Bridge station, were later restarted. A £250million project to grade-separate the tracks at Norton Bridge that allowed for increased service frequency as well as improved line-speeds was completed in spring 2016. Other projects such as the replacement of a weak bridge in Watford allowed line-speeds to be increased from to , decreasing journey times.


Infrastructure


Track

The main spine of the WCML is
quadruple track A quadruple-track railway (also known as a four-track railway) is a railway line consisting of four parallel tracks with two tracks used in each direction. Quadruple-track railways can handle large amounts of traffic, and so are used on very bu ...
almost all of the route from London to south of
Winsford Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is on the River Weaver, south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining indus ...
. At Hanslope Junction (near
Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
), the line divides with one pair going direct to and the other pair diverting via to rejoin at Rugby. The spine continues north in quadruple track until Brinklow, where it reduces to triple track. The line between Brinklow and Nuneaton has three tracks, with one northbound track and fast and slow southbound tracks. The line then reverts to quadruple track at Nuneaton. North of Rugeley, there is a short double track stretch through the Shugborough Tunnel. The line is then quadruple track most of the way to Acton Bridge railway station, except for a double track section between
Winsford Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is on the River Weaver, south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining indus ...
and Hartford. The line is double track from to Weaver Junction (where a double track spur to Liverpool branches off). The line is double track from Weaver Junction to , but the line is quadruple track between Warrington Bank Quay to . At Newton-le-Willows, the slow lines join the Liverpool to Manchester line to pass through the centre of the town, while the fast lines take the direct route via the Golborne cut-off. There are two more stretches of quadruple track, otherwise the line is double track to Scotland. The first is from Euxton Balshaw Lane to Preston, and the second is between and The WCML is noted for the diversity of branches served from the spine, notably those to/from the West Midlands and
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
,
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
, and Liverpool. These are detailed in the route diagram. The complete route has been cleared for W10
loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and k ...
freight traffic, allowing use of higher hi-cube
shipping containers A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...
. The route passes through Nuneaton and the Midlands and this area has been called the " Golden Triangle of Logistics".


Electrification

Nearly all of the WCML is electrified with overhead line equipment at . Several of the formerly unelectrified branches of the WCML in the North West have recently been electrified such as the to Line on which electric service commenced in May 2018 along with the Preston – line which saw electric service commence in February 2019. Wigan to Liverpool via St Helens Shaw Street and St Helens Junction were also electrified in the 2010-2017 timeframe. The to branch is also in the process of being electrified.


Rolling stock

The majority of stock used on the West Coast Main Line is new-build, part of Virgin's initial franchise agreement having been a commitment to introduce a brand-new fleet of tilting Class 390 "Pendolino" trains for long-distance high-speed WCML services. The 53-strong ''Pendolino'' fleet, plus three tilting SuperVoyager diesel sets, were bought for use on these InterCity services. One Pendolino was written off in 2007 following the Grayrigg derailment. After the 2007 franchise "shake-up" in the Midlands, more SuperVoyagers were transferred to Virgin West Coast, instead of going to the new CrossCountry franchise. The SuperVoyagers are used on London–Chester and Holyhead services because the Chester/North Wales line is not electrified, so they run "under the wires" between London and Crewe. SuperVoyagers were also used on Virgin's London-Scotland via Birmingham services, even though this route is entirely electrified – this situation is, however, changing since the expansion of the ''Pendolino'' fleet; from 2013 onward Class 390 sets have been routinely deployed on Edinburgh/Glasgow–Birmingham services. By 2012, the WCML ''Pendolino'' fleet was strengthened by the addition of two coaches to 31 of the 52 existing sets, thus turning them into 11-car trains. Four brand new 11-car sets are also part of this order, one of which replaced the set lost in the Grayrigg derailment. Although the new stock was supplied in Virgin livery, it was not expected to enter traffic before 31 March 2012, when the InterCity West Coast franchise was due to be re-let, though the date for the new franchise was later put back to December 2012, and any effect of this on the timetable for introducing the new coaches remains unclear. Previous franchisees
Central Trains Central Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated a variety of local and inter-regional trains from 2 March 1997 until 11 November 2007. Overview Created out of the Central division of ...
and Silverlink (operating local and regional services partly over sections of the WCML) were given 30 new "Desiro" Class 350s, originally ordered for services in the south-east. Following
Govia Govia Limited is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 1996 as a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group (65%) and Keolis (35%) to bid for rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. History ...
's successful bid for the West Midlands franchise in 2007, another 37 Class 350 units were ordered to replace its older fleet of s. The older BR-vintage locomotive-hauled passenger rolling stock still has a limited role on the WCML, with the overnight
Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight Sleeping car, sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom ...
services between London Euston and Scotland using Mark 3 and Mark 2 coaches until their replacement with Mark 5 stock in October 2019. Virgin also retained and refurbished one of the original Mark 3 rakes with a
Driving Van Trailer A Driving Van Trailer (DVT) is a Great Britain, British purpose-built control car railway vehicle that allows the driver to operate with a locomotive in Push-pull train, push-pull formation from the opposite end of a train. A key benefit of o ...
and a locomotive as a standby set to cover for ''Pendolino'' breakdowns. This set was retired from service on 25 October with a rail tour the following day. In November 2014, the "Pretendolino" was transferred to Norwich Crown Point depot to enter service with
Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Transport UK East Anglia Limited) is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city se ...
having come to the end of its agreed lease to Virgin Trains. In September 2022, following the
death of Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, died on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. Elizabeth's reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch. She was ...
, locomotive hauled services returned briefly to the WCML once more when incumbent operator Avanti West Coast employed a rake of Mark 3 coaches (hauled by a Class 90 locomotive) to provide additional services to Euston for those wishing to travel to London for the Queen's lying-in-state and subsequent funeral. The following table lists the rolling stock which forms the core passenger service pattern on the WCML serving its principal termini; it is not exhaustive as many other types use small sections of the WCML as part of other routes.


Commuter and regional trains


High-speed trains


Sleeper trains


Operators


Avanti West Coast

The current principal long distance
train operating company In the railway system of Great Britain, a train operating company (TOC) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways ...
on the West Coast Main Line is Avanti West Coast, which runs the majority of long-distance services under the
West Coast Partnership The West Coast Partnership (WCP) is a railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) (and branches thereof), between London Euston, the West Midlands, Shropshire, North Wales, Liverpool, Manch ...
rail franchise. In November 2016, the government announced that the (then named)
InterCity West Coast InterCity West Coast (ICWC) was a 1997–2019 railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (and branches thereof), between London Euston, the West Midlands, North Wales, Liverpool, Manchester, Car ...
franchise would be replaced by a new franchise called 'West Coast Partnership', which includes operating the planned
High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a Spur line, branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to ...
(HS2) service as well as the existing West Coast Main Line express services. In August 2019, the DfT announced that First Trenitalia West Coast Rail (trading as Avanti West Coast) was the successful bidder. Avanti West Coast commenced operating the franchise on 8 December 2019. Avanti operates nine trains per hour on the WCML from , with three trains per hour to , two trains per hour to , one train per hour to each of , and via the Trent Valley (one Birmingham New Street train per hour continues to Scotland via alternating between or {Glasgow Central), five trains on a weekday to and three trains on a weekday to . There is also one weekday train in to/from . Additional peak terminating services run between London Euston and , Wolverhampton, , , and . Additional trains during the early morning, late evening, rush hour and night that terminate or start at Birmingham. There are also three daily (Monday to Friday) services between London Euston and .


West Midlands Trains

West Midlands Trains West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a British train operating company. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trading names: within the West Midlands region as West Midlands Rai ...
is the current principal commuter and outer suburban operator on the route, and provides some long-distance services which terminate at London Euston. They are all operated under the
London Northwestern Railway West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a British train operating company. It operates passenger trains on the Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain, West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trading names: within t ...
brand. There are two trains an hour from London to Birmingham; one calling at the majority of stations ''en route'' and one calling only at , , , , , , , , , Birmingham International and . There are two return trains per hour from Birmingham New Street to London Euston. These London–Birmingham stopping services are roughly one hour slower, end to end, than the Avanti West Coast fast service. There is also an hourly service from London Euston to Northampton calling at , , Milton Keynes Central and . West Midlands Trains also operates an hourly service between London Euston and Crewe, serving Watford Junction, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, , , , , , and Crewe. Some services also call at , , , , Leighton Buzzard and Bletchley. Trains also call at (Sundays only). This service was introduced in 2008 to coincide with the withdrawal of the similar
Virgin Trains Virgin Trains (VT) (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West C ...
service. Under 'Project 110' this service was reconfigured in December 2012 and to operate 10 mph faster using enhanced
British Rail Class 350 The British Rail Class 350 ''Desiro'' is a class of electric multiple unit passenger train built by Siemens Transportation Systems to its Siemens Desiro, Desiro design between 2004 and 2014. All 87 are now operated by West Midlands Trains, havin ...
/1 units. A service to Tring is provided half-hourly from Euston; one calling at , , Watford Junction, , , Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted and one calling at , Harrow & Wealdstone, Bushey, Watford Junction, Kings Langley, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamstead. An hourly service operates to Milton Keynes Central calling at Watford Junction, Hemel Hempstead, {erkhamstead, Tring, Cheddington, Leighton Buzzard and Bletchley.
West Midlands Trains West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a British train operating company. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trading names: within the West Midlands region as West Midlands Rai ...
also operates an hourly stopping train on the
Marston Vale Line The Marston Vale line is the line between and in England, a surviving remnant of the former Varsity Line between and , most of which was closed in the late 1960s. The line is sponsored by the Marston Vale community rail partnership. The line ...
from Bletchley to as well as a 45-minute service on the
Abbey Line The Abbey Line, also known as the St Albans Abbey branch line, is a railway line from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey. The route passes through town and countryside in the county of Hertfordshire, just outside the boundaries of the Oyster ...
to . These are both local branches off the WCML and classified as part of it. After the
Central Trains Central Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated a variety of local and inter-regional trains from 2 March 1997 until 11 November 2007. Overview Created out of the Central division of ...
franchise was revised,
London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Gov ...
took over services running on the WCML between Birmingham and Liverpool. In August 2017, London Midland lost the West Midlands franchise; West Midlands Trains took over in December 2017. Services on the WCML are all branded London Northwestern Railway services, and all local services around Birmingham are branded West Midlands Railway services.


TransPennine Express

TransPennine Express TransPennine Trains Limited, trading as TransPennine Express (TPE), is a British train operating company that has operated passenger services in the TransPennine Express franchise area since May 2023. It runs regional and inter-city rail ser ...
provides services along the WCML between or Liverpool Lime Street, and Glasgow or Edinburgh (alternating serving each every 2hours).


Southern

Southern provides an hourly service between and Watford Junction, which calls at all stations on the West London Line, then , Harrow & Wealdstone and Watford Junction.


CrossCountry

CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the current CrossCountry franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, ...
operates services from , and to Manchester Piccadilly; these trains run along the West Coast Main Line between Coventry and Manchester Piccadilly. Some trains from Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads are extended to and Plymouth, and on summer weekends to and . CrossCountry services between and also use a small portion of the West Coast Main Line between Coventry and Birmingham New Street. CrossCountry also operates occasional services to/from Glasgow Central, which operate to either Penzance, Plymouth, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bristol Temple Meads or Birmingham New Street. On summer weekends trains from Glasgow Central also operate to Paignton, Penzance and Newquay. These services use the West Coast Main Line from Edinburgh to Glasgow Central.


ScotRail

ScotRail ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail (), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise as an operator of las ...
operates services on sections of the West Coast Main Line for example near Glasgow with
Argyle Line The Argyle Line is a suburban railway located in West Central Scotland. The line serves the commercial and shopping districts of Glasgow's central area, and connects towns from West Dunbartonshire to South Lanarkshire. Named for Glasgow's Arg ...
trains running on the section from to before veering off on the short branch to or continuing to . The
North Berwick Line The North Berwick Branch is a short railway branch line built by the North British Railway to connect North Berwick, in East Lothian, Scotland to the East Coast Main Line (at Drem). It was built as a tactical means of excluding competitors ...
runs from Glasgow Central High Level via to Carstairs and on to , Edinburgh Waverley and . At the Glasgow South Western Line runs for several miles before heading west towards , , and .


Caledonian Sleeper

Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight Sleeping car, sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom ...
operates services down the length of the West Coast Main Line, providing an overnight services each way between London and Scotland.


Recent developments


Felixstowe and Nuneaton freight capacity scheme

A number of items of work are under way or proposed to accommodate additional freight traffic between the
Haven ports The Haven ports are a group of ports on the east coast of England. Traditionally, only the three deep-water ports of Ipswich, Harwich and Felixstowe, on the confluence of the River Orwell and River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour, were included. ...
and the Midlands including track dualling. The 'Nuneaton North Chord' was completed and opened on 15 November 2012. The chord will ease access for some trains between the Birmingham to Peterborough Line and the WCML. The Ipswich chord was opened at the end of March 2014 allowing trains to run without reversing from Felixstowe towards the Midlands.


Stafford Area Improvements Programme

A planned
flying junction A flying junction or flyover is a railway junction at which one or more diverging or converging tracks in a multiple-track route cross other tracks on the route by bridge to avoid conflict with other train movements. A more technical term is "gr ...
and track diversion in the – area. This replaced the previous level junction where the Stafford to Manchester via Stoke-on-Trent line diverges from the trunk route at Norton Bridge, avoiding conflicting train movements to enhance capacity and reduce journey times. This allowed two extra off-peak trains per hour from Euston to the North West, one extra train per hour from Manchester to Birmingham and one additional freight train per hour. Additional freight capacity was also provided around Stafford station. The resignalling work associated with this project was due to be completed in summer 2015 and the Norton Bridge work was complete in December 2016, followed by a new timetable introduced in December 2017.


Weaver Junction to Liverpool signalling

Re-signalling work the WCML spur track from Liverpool to Weaver Junction was underway in 2016. Signal control moved to the Manchester Rail Operating Centre removing five local signal boxes. The signalling improvements are intended to improve journey times on this section of line.


Proposed development


Increased line speed

In 2007, Virgin Trains put forward plans to increase the line speed in places on the WCML – particularly along sections of the Trent Valley Line between Stafford and Rugby from after the quadrupling of track had been completed. This would permit faster services and possibly allow additional train paths. was claimed to be achievable by Pendolino trains while using existing lineside signalling without the need for
cab signalling Cab signalling is a railroad, railway safety system that communicates track status and condition information to the cab (locomotive), cab, crew compartment or driver's compartment of a locomotive, railcar or multiple unit. The information is con ...
via the use of the TASS system ( Tilt Authorisation and Speed Supervision) to prevent overspeeding. In practice, regulations introduced by the HMRI (now ORR) at the time of the ECML high-speed test runs in 1991 are still in force prohibiting this. Network Rail was aware of Virgin Trains' aspirations; however, in November 2009
Chris Mole Christopher David Mole (born 16 March 1958) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Ipswich from a by-election in 2001, after the death of Jamie Cann, and was re-elected in 2005. He was Parliamentary Under ...
MP (then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Transport) announced that there were no plans for this to happen and thus for the foreseeable future the maximum speed will remain at . In promoting this proposal, Virgin Trains reported that passenger numbers on Virgin West Coast increased from 13.6 million in 1997/98 to 18.7 million in 2005/6, while numbers on CrossCountry grew from 12.6 million to 20.4 million over the same period.


Crossrail extension

In the ''London & South East Rail Utilisation Strategy'' (RUS) document published by
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...
in 2011, a proposal was put forward to extend the
Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...
lines, currently under construction in central London, along the West Coast Main Line as far as and . The scheme would involve the construction of a tunnel in the vicinity of the proposed new station at in West London connecting the Crossrail route to the WCML slow lines with a potential for interchange with the planned
High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a Spur line, branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to ...
line. Under current plans, a proportion of westbound Crossrail trains will terminate at due to capacity limitations; the RUS recommends the WCML extension as it will enable these services to continue beyond Paddington, maximising the use of the central London tunnels. The RUS also notes that diversion of WCML regional rail services via Crossrail into central London would alleviate congestion at Euston station, and consequently reduce the need for infrastructure work on the London Underground network which would be required to accommodate HS2 passengers arriving at Euston. The Crossrail extension proposal has not been officially confirmed or funded. In August 2014, the government launched a study into the Crossrail extension.


Accidents

{, class="wikitable" , - ! Name !! Date !! Killed and/or Injured !! Notes , - , Grayrigg derailment (at Lambrigg Crossovers, south of Grayrigg) , 23 February 2007 , 1 killed , - ,
Tebay rail accident The Tebay rail accident occurred when four railway workers working on the West Coast Main Line were killed by a runaway wagon near Tebay, Cumbria, England in the early hours of 15 February 2004. Incident The accident happened after a wagon lad ...
, 15 February 2004 , 4 workers killed (no public involvement) , - , Norton Bridge rail crash , 16 October 2003 , 1 injured , - , Winsford rail crash , 23 June 1999 , 31 injured , - , Watford rail crash , 8 August 1996 , 1 killed, 69 injured , - , Stafford rail crash (1996) , 8 March 1996 , 1 killed, 22 injured , - , Newton rail crash , 21 July 1991 , 4 killed, 22 injured , - , Stafford rail crash (1990) , 4 August 1990 , 1 killed, 35 injured , - , Colwich rail crash , 19 September 1986 , 1 killed 60 injured , - , Wembley Central rail crash , 11 October 1984 , 3 killed, 18 injured , - , Nuneaton rail crash , 6 June 1975 , 6 killed 67 injured , - , Watford Junction rail crash , 23 January 1975 , 1 killed, 11 injured , - ,
Hixon rail crash On 6 January 1968, a low-loader transporter carrying a 120-ton electrical transformer was struck by a British Rail express train on a recently installed automatic level crossing at Hixon, Staffordshire, England. The collision resulted in 11 de ...
, 6 January 1968 , 11 killed, 27 injured , - , Stechford rail crash , 28 February 1967 , 9 killed, 16 injured , - , Cheadle Hulme 'bend' derailment , 28 May 1964 , 3 killed , - , Coppenhall Junction railway accident , 26 December 1962 , 18 killed, 34 injured , - , Harrow and Wealdstone railway accident , 8 October 1952 , 112 killed, 340 injured , Worst peacetime railway accident in the UK , - , Weedon rail crash (1951) , 21 September 1951 , 15 killed, 36 injured , - , Lambrigg Crossing signal box between Grayrigg and
Oxenholme Oxenholme ( or ) is a village in England just south of the town of Kendal, with which it has begun to merge. It is best known for Oxenholme Lake District railway station on the West Coast Main Line. By strict English definition, Oxenholme ...
, 18 May 1947 (express hit light engine driver missing a signal while looking in his food box) , 4 in hospital, 34 minor injuries , - , Lichfield rail crash , 1 January 1946 , 20 killed, 21 injured. , - ,
Bourne End rail crash The Bourne End rail crash occurred on 30 September 1945 when a sleeper train from Perth to London Euston derailed, killing 43. The cause was driver error, possibly compounded by ambiguous signalling regulations. Overview The train was the 1 ...
, 30 September 1945 , 43 killed, 64 injured , - , Winwick rail crash , 28 September 1934 , 12 killed , - , Weedon (1915) , 14 August 1915 , 10 killed, 21 injured , - , Quintinshill rail crash , 22 May 1915 , 227 killed, 246 injured. , Worst ever rail accident in the United Kingdom. , - ,
Ditton Junction rail crash Ditton railway station, Ditton Junction is near Widnes on the Liverpool spur of the former London and North Western Railway. This complex junction had eight running lines and associated signal gantries. On 17 September 1912 the 17:30 Chester to ...
, 17 September 1912 , 15 killed , - , Chelford rail accident , 22 December 1894 , 14 killed, 48 injured , - , Wigan rail crash , 1 August 1873 , 13 killed, 30 major injuries. , - , Tamworth rail crash , 14 September 1870 , 3 killed, 13 injured. , - , Warrington rail crash , 29 June 1867 , 8 killed, 33 injured , - , Atherstone rail accident , 16 November 1860 , 10 killed.


Route

In June 2019
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...
formed five regions for helping to support Britain's railways. In August and September 2019, 14 routes responsible for the operation, maintenance and renewal of infrastructure were assigned across these regions. The West Coast Main Line runs through two of these regions ("Scotland's Railway" and "North West and Central") and is a part of 3 routes ("Scotland", "North West" and "West Coast Mainline South"). The cities and towns served by the WCML are listed in the tables below. Stations on loops and branches are marked **. Those stations in ''italics'' are not served by inter-city services run by Avanti West Coast but only by local trains. Between Euston and Watford Junction the WCML is largely but not exactly paralleled by the operationally independent
Watford DC Line The Watford DC line is a suburban railway line from London Euston to Watford Junction in Greater London and Hertfordshire. The line is shared by services on London Underground's above-ground section of the Bakerloo line between Harrow & Weald ...
, a local stopping service now part of
London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...
, with 17 intermediate stations, including three with additional platforms on the WCML. The final table retraces the route specifically to indicate the many loops, branches, junctions and interchange stations on the core of the WCML. The North Wales Coast Line between Crewe and Holyhead is not electrified. Services between London, Chester and Holyhead are operated by Super Voyager tilting diesel trains. Formerly in the case of one of the Holyhead services, a
Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian language, Italian "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of high-speed tilting trains (and non-tilting) used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, ...
set was hauled from Crewe by a Class 57/3
diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...
.


London to Glasgow and Edinburgh

{, class="wikitable" , - ! Town/City , , Station , ,
Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

National Grid Reference , , Branches and loops , - , London , , , , , - , ''
Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...
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Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It had a population of 25,328 in the 2011 census, rising to 28,416 in the 2021 census, an increase of 12.19%. This makes Bushey the second most populated town ...
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Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...
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Kings Langley Kings Langley is a village, former manor and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, north-west of London and to the south of the Chiltern Hills. It now forms part of the London commuter belt. The village is divided between two local governme ...
'' , , ' , , , - , '' Apsley'' , , ' , , , - , ''
Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens ...
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Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the River Bulbourne, Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which ...
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Tring Tring is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, England. It is situated in a gap passing through the Chiltern Hills, classed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, from Central London. Tring is linked ...
'' , , ' , , , - , '' Cheddington'' , , ' , , , - , ''
Leighton Buzzard Leighton Buzzard ( ) is a market town in Bedfordshire, England, in the southwest of the county and close to the Buckinghamshire border. It lies between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton/ Dunstable and Milton Keynes, near the Chiltern Hills. It is nor ...
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Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
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Bletchley Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, in the south-west of the city, split between the civil parishes in England, civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley, which In 2011 had a com ...
area)'' , , ' , , , - ,
Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
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centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...
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Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...
(
Wolverton Wolverton ( ) is a constituent town of Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban ar ...
area)'' , , ' , , , - ,
Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...
, , , , , , Northampton loop , - , ''
Long Buckby Long Buckby is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the parish of Long Buckby, which includes the hamlet of Long Buckby Wharf, was recorded ...
'' , , ' , , , , Northampton loop , - , Rugby , , , , , - ,
Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...
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Atherstone Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire which ...
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Polesworth Polesworth is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. It is situated close to the northern tip of the county, adjacent to the border with Staffordshire. It is eas ...
'' , , ' , , , - , Tamworth , , , , , - ,
Lichfield Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...
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Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is north of Lichfield, southeast of Stafford, northeast of ...
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Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...
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Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...
, , , , , , Stafford–Manchester line , - ,
Congleton Congleton is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is on the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 28,497 and the built-up area ha ...
, , , , , , Stafford–Manchester line , - ,
Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...
, , , , , , Stafford–Manchester line , - ,
Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
, , , , , , Stafford–Manchester line , - ,
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, , , , , , Stafford–Manchester line , - ,
Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...
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Winsford Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is on the River Weaver, south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining indus ...
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Northwich Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane, east of Chester, south of Warrington and south of Ma ...
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Acton Bridge Map of the civil parish of Acton Bridge within the former borough of Vale Royal Acton Bridge (formerly Acton) is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. Located within the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester on the River We ...
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Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...
, , , , , , Crewe–Liverpool line , - ,
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, , , , , , Crewe–Liverpool line , - ,
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, , , , , , Crewe–Liverpool line , - ,
Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...
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Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...
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Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...
, , , , , - ,
Carnforth Carnforth is a market town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England, situated at the north-east end of Morecambe Bay. The parish of Carnforth had a population of 5,560 in the 2011 census, an increase from the 5,350 reco ...
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Oxenholme Oxenholme ( or ) is a village in England just south of the town of Kendal, with which it has begun to merge. It is best known for Oxenholme Lake District railway station on the West Coast Main Line. By strict English definition, Oxenholme ...
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Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...
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Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...
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Lockerbie Lockerbie (, ) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, located in south-western Scotland. The 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town had an estimated population of in . The town came to international attention in December 1988 when ...
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Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs r ...
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Carluke Carluke (; ) is a town that lies in the heart of the Lanarkshire countryside in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, northwest of Lanark and southeast of Wishaw. Carluke is largely a commuter town, with a variety of small stores and supermarkets a ...
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Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
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Uddingston Uddingston (, ) is a small town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the north side of the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow city centre, and acts as a dormitory suburb for the city. Geography and boundaries Uddingston is located to t ...
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Cambuslang Cambuslang (, from ) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th-largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a town hall, it may also be cons ...
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Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...
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Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, , , , , - , Kirknewton , , , , , - ,
Currie Currie is a village and suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated south west of the city centre. Formerly within the County of Midlothian, it now falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edinburgh Council. It is situated be ...
, , , , , - , Wester Hailes , , , , , - , Kingsknowe , , , , , - ,
Slateford Slateford () is an area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is east of the Water of Leith. The former village of Slateford lies on the Lanark Road where it crosses the Water of Leith, south west of Slateford Station. The name "Slatefo ...
, , , , , - , Edinburgh (Haymarket/West End) , , , , , , Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line , - ,
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, , , , , , Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line


Branches and loops

The WCML is noted for the diversity of branches served between the London and Glasgow main line. The adjacent diagram deals with the very complex network of lines in the West Midlands that link the old route via Birmingham with the new WCML route via the Trent Valley (i.e. 1830s versus 1840s). In the following tables, related to the WCML branches, only the Intercity stations are recorded:


=Rugby–Birmingham–Wolverhampton–Stafford

= {, class="wikitable" , - !colspan=2, City/Town , , Station , ,
Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

grid reference A projected coordinate systemalso called a projected coordinate reference system, planar coordinate system, or grid reference systemis a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on Earth using Cartesian coordinate system, Car ...
, - , colspan=2, Rugby , , Rugby , rowspan=21, , - , rowspan=3, Coventry , ,
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
, , , - ,
Canley Canley is a suburban neighbourhood located in south-west Coventry, England. Canley became part of Coventry as a result of successive encroachment of the latter's boundaries between 1928 and 1932, having historically been part of the Stoneleigh ...
, , , - , Tile Hill , , , - , colspan=2,
Balsall Common Balsall Common is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England. It is situated northwest of Kenilworth, west of the centre of Coventry (but only two miles (3 km) from the western part of Coventry), east of S ...
, , , - , colspan=2,
Hampton in Arden Hampton in Arden is a village and civil parish located in the Forest of Arden in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands of England. Hampton in Arden was part of Warwickshire until the 1974 boundary changes. It lies within ...
, , , - , colspan=2,
Birmingham Airport Birmingham Airport , formerly ''Birmingham International Airport'', is an international airport located east-southeast of Birmingham city centre, west-northwest of Coventry slightly north of Bickenhill village, in the Metropolitan Bor ...
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Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...
, ,
Marston Green Marston Green is a village in the civil parish of Bickenhill and Marston Green, in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands. It lies within the historic counties of England, historic county of Warwickshire ...
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Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, , Lea Hall , , , - , Stechford , , , - , Adderley Park , , , - ,
Birmingham city centre Birmingham city centre, also known as Central Birmingham, is the central business district of Birmingham, England. The area was historically in Warwickshire. Following the removal of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road, the city cent ...
, , , - , colspan=2 rowspan=2,
Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire and then Worcestershire before bei ...
, , , - , , - , colspan=2, Oldbury , , , - , colspan=2 rowspan=2,
Tipton Tipton is an industrial town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeas ...
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Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...
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Coseley Coseley ( ) is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is situated north of Dudley itself, on the border with Wolverhampton and Sandwell. It f ...
, , , - , colspan=2,
Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...
, , , - , colspan=2,
Penkridge Penkridge ( ) is a village and civil parish in South Staffordshire, South Staffordshire District in Staffordshire, England. It is to the south of Stafford, north of Wolverhampton, west of Cannock, east of Telford and south-east of Newport, Shro ...
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Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...
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=Crewe–Manchester–Preston

= {, class="wikitable" , - ! City/Town , , Station , ,
Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

grid reference A projected coordinate systemalso called a projected coordinate reference system, planar coordinate system, or grid reference systemis a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on Earth using Cartesian coordinate system, Car ...
, - , Crewe , , Crewe , , , - ,
Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is south of Manchester. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the parish had a population of 26,213 and the built up area had a p ...
, , , , , - , Stockport , , Stockport , , , - , Manchester , , Manchester Piccadilly , , , - ,
Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...
, , , , , - , Preston , , Preston , ,


Tunnels, viaducts and major bridges

Major civil engineering structures on the West Coast Main Line include the following. Many of the engineering features on the southern part of the route are original to the opening of the London and Birmingham Railway in the 1830s and are now
listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
in recognition of their historic and engineering interest. {, class="wikitable" , +Tunnels, viaducts and major bridges on the West Coast Main Line !Railway Structure !Length !Distance from Carlisle ! ELR !Location , - , Clyde Bridge , 8 chains , 102
mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a imperial unit, British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of Unit of length, le ...
s 04
chains A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...
– 101 miles 76 chains , rowspan="4" , WCM2 , rowspan="2" , South of Glasgow Central station , - , Eglinton Street Tunnels , 200 yards (183 m) , 101 miles 22 chains – 101 miles 13 chains , - , Clyde Viaduct No. 37 , , 94 miles 16 chains , West of station , - , Orbiston Viaduct No. 24 (River Calder) , 5 chains , 90 miles 62 chains – 90 miles 57 chains , Between Uddingston and stations , - , Mouse Water Viaduct , 5 chains , 76 miles 13 chains – 76 miles 08 chains , rowspan="15" , WCM1 , Between and stations , - , Float Viaduct (
River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...
) , 5 chains , 72 miles 52 chains – 72 miles 47 chains , rowspan="7" , Between Carstairs South Junction and station , - , Lamington Viaduct (River Clyde) , 6 chains , 62 miles 70 chains – 62 miles 64 chains , - , Crawford Viaduct (River Clyde) , 5 chains , 55 miles 62 chains – 55 miles 57 chains , - , Harthorpe Viaduct (Elvan Water) , 6 chains , 47 miles 06 chains – 47 miles 00 chains , - , Elvan Water Viaduct , , 42 miles 78 chains , - , Cogrie Viaduct (River Annan) , 4 chains , 35 miles 70 chains – 35 miles 66 chains , - , Dryfe Water Viaduct , 4 chains , 27 miles 32 chains – 27 miles 28 chains , - , Milk Water Viaduct , 7 chains , 23 miles 75 chains – 23 miles 68 chains , rowspan="7" , Between Lockerbie and stations , - , Mein Water Viaduct , , 17 miles 65 chains , - , Kirtle Water Viaduct , , 15 miles 60 chains , - , Sark Viaduct (Scotland/England Border) , , 8 miles 55 chains , - , Esk Viaduct , 7 chains , 6 miles 50 chains – 6 miles 43 chains , - , Eden Viaduct , 3 chains , 1 mile 23 chains – 1 mile 20 chains , - , Caldew Viaduct , 7 chains , 0 miles 66 chains – 0 miles 59 chains , - , colspan="2" , !Distance from Lancaster , colspan="2" , , - , Eamont Viaduct , 5 chains , 50 miles 12 chains – 50 miles 07 chains , rowspan="8" , CGJ7 , rowspan="6" , Between and stations , - , Lowther Viaduct , 7 chains , 48 miles 57 chains – 48 miles 50 chains , - , Birkbeck Viaduct , , 33 miles 28 chains , - , North Lune Viaduct , , 32 miles 20 chains , - ,
River Lune The River Lune (archaically sometimes Loyne) is a river in length in Cumbria and Lancashire, England. Etymology Several elucidations for the origin of the name ''Lune'' exist. Firstly, it may be that the name is Brittonic languages, Brittonic ...
, , 31 miles 55 chains , - , Docker Garth's Viaduct , 6 chains , 24 miles 03 chains – 23 miles 77 chains , - , Beela Viaduct , , 13 miles 02 chains , rowspan="2" , Between Oxenholme and stations , - , Lune Viaduct , 12 chains , 0 miles 38 chains – 0 miles 26 chains , - , colspan="2" , !Distance from Preston , colspan="2" , , - ,
Lancaster Canal The Lancaster Canal is a canal in North West England, originally planned to run from Westhoughton in Lancashire to Kendal in south Cumbria (Historic counties of England, historically in Westmorland). The section around the crossing of the River ...
, , 20 miles 36 chains , rowspan="5" , CGJ6 , , - , Conder Viaduct , , 16 miles 76 chains , rowspan="4" , Between Lancaster and stations , - , Wyre Viaduct , , 13 miles 01 chains , - , Barton Viaduct , , 4 miles 30 chains , - , Fylde Road Viaduct , , 0 miles 64 chains , - , colspan="2" , !Distance from Newton-le-Willows Junction , colspan="2" , , - , Ribble Viaduct , 12 chains , 21 miles 33 chains – 21 miles 21 chains , rowspan="4" , CGJ5 , rowspan="2" , Between Preston and stations , - , River Yarrow Viaduct , 5 chains , 14 miles 55 chains – 14 miles 50 chains , - , rowspan="2" , Leeds Liverpool Canal , 4 chains , 6 miles 04 chains – 6 miles 00 chains , rowspan="2" , Between Wigan North Western and stations , - , 7 chains , 4 miles 24 chains −4 miles 17 chains , - , colspan="2" , !Distance from London Euston , colspan="2" , , - ,
River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...
, , 181 miles 25 chains , rowspan="3" , CGJ2 , rowspan="2" , South of Warrington Bank Quay station , - , Acton Grange Viaducts (Manchester Ship Canal) , 5 chains , 180 miles 40 chains – 180 miles 35 chains , - , Preston Brook Tunnel , 78 yards (71 m) , 176 miles 07 chains – 176 miles 04 chains , North of Weaver junction , - , Birdswood Tunnel (Up Liverpool flyover) , 1 chain , 175 miles 44 chains – 175 miles 43 chains , rowspan="3" , CGJ1 , Weaver junction , - , Dutton Viaduct (River Weaver) , 22 chains , 174 miles 18 chains – 173 miles 76 chains , North of station , - , Vale Royal Viaduct (River Weaver) , 6 chains , 168 miles 72 chains – 168 miles 66 chains , South of Hartford station , - ,
River Sow The River Sow is a tributary of the River Trent in Staffordshire, England, and is the river that flows through Stafford. Course The river rises to the south of Loggerheads, Staffordshire, Loggerheads, near Broughton Hall, Staffordshire, Brough ...
, , 137 miles 52 chains , LEC4 , Between former and stations , - , Baswich Viaducts (Staffs. & Worc. Canal and River Penk) , 7 chains , 131 miles 57 chains – 131 miles 50 chains , rowspan="19" , LEC2 , rowspan="4" , Between Stafford and stations , - , Shugborough Tunnel , 777 yards (710 m) , 129 miles 01 chains – 128 miles 46 chains , - , Shugborough Viaduct (River Trent) , 3 chains , 127 miles 71 chains – 127 miles 68 chains , - , Trent & Mersey Canal , , 127 mile 22 chains , - , River Trent Viaduct , 4 chains , 122 miles 18 chains – 122 miles 14 chains , rowspan="2" , Between Rugeley Trent Valley and stations , - , Trent & Mersey Canal , , 121 miles 29 chains , - ,
Coventry Canal The Coventry Canal is a navigable narrow canal in the Midlands of England. It starts in Coventry and ends to the north at Fradley Junction, just north of Lichfield, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It also has connections with the ...
, , 115 miles 18 chains , rowspan="2" , Between Lichfield Trent Valley and stations , - , River Tame , 4 chains , 112 miles 36 chains – 112 miles 32 chains , - , Tamworth Viaduct (River Anker) , , 109 miles 70 chains , South of Tamworth station , - , Polesworth North Viaduct , 4 chains , 106 miles 53 chains – 106 miles 49 chains , North of station , - , Polesworth South Viaduct (River Anker) , 4 chains , 105 miles 75 chains – 105 miles 71 chains , rowspan="3" , Between Polesworth and stations , - , rowspan="2" ,
Coventry Canal The Coventry Canal is a navigable narrow canal in the Midlands of England. It starts in Coventry and ends to the north at Fradley Junction, just north of Lichfield, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It also has connections with the ...
, , 105 miles 59 chains , - , , 102 miles 05 chains , - , River Anker Viaduct , 2 chains , 96 miles 38 chains – 96 miles 36 chains , rowspan="6" , Between and stations , - , Ashby Canal , , 94 miles 61 chains , - , rowspan="3" , Oxford Canal , rowspan="3" , , 89 miles 61 chains , - , 88 miles 10 chains , - , 85 miles 54 chains , - , Avon Viaduct , 5 chains , 84 miles 09 chains – 84 miles 04 chains , - , Oxford Canal , , 82 miles 16 chains , rowspan="10" , HNR , rowspan="4" , Northampton line, between Rugby and stations , - , Crick Tunnel , 595 yards (544 m) , 79 miles 47 chains – 79 miles 20 chains , - , Grand Union Canal , , 78 miles 60 chains , - , Watford Lodge Tunnel , 115 yards , 78 miles 52 chains – 78 miles 47 , - ,
River Nene The River Nene ( or ) flows through the counties of Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk in Eastern England from its sources in Arbury Hill in Northamptonshire. Flowing Northeast through East England to its mouth at Lutt ...
Viaduct , 5 chains , 67 miles 77 chains – 67 miles 72 chains , rowspan="2" , Northampton line, between Long Buckby and stations , - , River Nene Viaduct , 5 chains , 66 miles 09 chains – 66 miles 04 chains , - , Earl Cowpers (River Nene) , 6 chains , 65 miles 19 chains – 65 miles 13 chains , rowspan="4" , Northampton line, between Northampton and stations , - , Grand Junction Canal , 4 chains , 65 miles 11 chains – 65 miles 07 chains , - , Hunsbury Hill Tunnel , 1152 yards (1053 m) , 64 miles 54 chains – 63 miles 70 chains , - , Roade Cutting ‘Birdcage’ support structure , 49 chains , 60 miles 76 chains – 60 miles 27 , - ,
Oxford Canal The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to th ...
, , 79 miles 71 chains , rowspan="25" , LEC1 , rowspan="8" , Between Rugby and Wolverton stations , - , Kilsby Tunnel , 1 mile 656 yards (2209 m) , 78 miles 13 chains – 76 miles 64 chains , - , Leicester Branch Canal , , 75 miles 11 chains , - , Grand Union Canal , , 73 miles 09 chains , - , Weedon Viaduct , 4 chains , 69 miles 15 chains – 69 miles 11 chains , - , Stowe Hill Tunnel , 491 yards (449 m) , 68 miles 32 chains – 68 miles 09 chains , - , Grand Union Canal , , 62 miles 59 chains , - , Wolverton Viaduct , 9 chains , 53 miles 01 chains – 52 miles 72 chains , - , rowspan="2" , Grand Union Canal , 2 chains , 52 miles 42 chains – 52 miles 40 chains , North of Wolverton station , - , , 52 miles 18 chains , South of Wolverton station , - , Linslade Tunnels , 287 yards (262 m), down fast 283 yards (259 m) , 40 miles 73 chains – 40 miles 60 chains , North of station , - , Grand Union Canal , , 34 miles 53 chains , Between and stations , - , Northchurch Tunnels , 349 yards (319 m) , 29 miles 12 chains – 28 miles 76 chains , North of station , - ,
Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the Canals of the United Kingdom, British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another to Birmi ...
, , 25 miles 21 chains , Between Berkhamsted and stations , - , Nash Mills railway bridge (crosses the
Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the Canals of the United Kingdom, British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another to Birmi ...
) , 22 miles 26 chains , Between and stations , - , Abbots Langley railway bridge , 27 yards , 22 miles 15 chains , South of Kings Langley station , - , Watford Slow Tunnel , 1 mile 230 yards (1820 m) , 19 miles 44 chains – 18 miles 33 chains , rowspan="2" , North of station , - , Watford Fast Tunnel , 1 mile 55 yards (1660 m) , 19 miles 40 chains – 18 miles 38 chains , - , Colne Viaduct , 3 chains , 16 miles 66 chains – 16 miles 63 chains , rowspan="2" , North of station , - , Bushey Arches Viaduct , 6 chains , 16 miles 11 chains – 16 miles 05 chains , - , Brent Viaducts , , 6 miles 77 chains , West of station , - , Kensal Green Tunnels , 320 yards (293 m) , 4 miles 59 chains – 4 miles 45 chains , West of station , - , Primrose Hill Tunnel (Fast) , 1182 yards (1081 m) , 2 miles 27 chains – 1 mile 54 chains , rowspan="4" , North-West of station , - , Primrose Hill Tunnel (Slow) , 1170 yards (1070 m) , 2 miles 27 chains – 1 mile ? chains , - , Lower Park Street Tunnel , 127 yards (116 m) , 0 miles 68 chains – 0 miles 62 chains , - , Upper Park Street Tunnel , 162 yards (148 m) , 0 miles 67 chains – 0 miles 60 chains


WCML branches and junctions

{, class="wikitable" , - ! Location ! Type ! Route ! Details , - , Camden Jnct , Branch , 18 ,
Watford DC Line The Watford DC line is a suburban railway line from London Euston to Watford Junction in Greater London and Hertfordshire. The line is shared by services on London Underground's above-ground section of the Bakerloo line between Harrow & Weald ...
(WDCL) , - , + , Junction , 6 , North London Line from joins WDCL and WCML , - , Willesden Jnct , Junction , 6 , North London Line from joins WDCL and WCML , - , + , Junction , 2 , West London Line from joins WCML , - , + , Junction , 6 , North London Line from joins WCML , - , , Interchange , 6 , North London Line with
Watford DC Line The Watford DC line is a suburban railway line from London Euston to Watford Junction in Greater London and Hertfordshire. The line is shared by services on London Underground's above-ground section of the Bakerloo line between Harrow & Weald ...
, - , , Branch , 18 , Watford DC Line terminates at separate bay platforms , - , + , Branch , 18 , St Albans Branch Line (AC single line single section) to , - , , Branch , 18 ,
Marston Vale Line The Marston Vale line is the line between and in England, a surviving remnant of the former Varsity Line between and , most of which was closed in the late 1960s. The line is sponsored by the Marston Vale community rail partnership. The line ...
to , - , High Level (Denbigh Hall South Jnct) , Branch , 16 , Freight only line to Newton Longville (remnant of mothballed
Varsity Line The Varsity Line was the main railway line that linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway. In World War II, the line became a strategic route for freight avoiding London, a ...
to
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
) , - , Hanslope Junction , Loop , 18 , Northampton Loop leaves a few miles north of and rejoins just south of , - , Rugby , Junction , 17 , West Midlands Main Line to , , and , - , , Junction , 19 , The Birmingham to Peterborough Line from , - , + , Junction , 17 , The Coventry to Nuneaton Line , - , + , Junction , 17 , The Birmingham to Peterborough Line to Birmingham , - , , Interchange , 17 , The
Cross Country Route The Cross Country Route is a long-distance railway route in England, which runs from to via , , and or . Inter-city services on the route, which include some of the longest passenger journeys in the UK such as to , are operated by CrossC ...
from and Birmingham to and the North East , - , , Interchange , 17 , The
Cross-City Line The Cross-City Line is a suburban rail line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for from Redditch and Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, its two southern termini, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via , connecting the ...
to Lichfield , - , + , Junction , 17 , north of the station , - , , Junction , 17 , The Chase Line from Birmingham to Rugeley , - , '' Colwich Junction'' , Branch , 18 , to and (Route 20 from ) , - , , Junction , 17 , West Midlands Main Line from Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton , - , , Branch , 18 , to to join line from Colwich Jnct to Manchester (Route 20 from Cheadle Hulme) , - , Stoke-on-Trent , Junction , 19 , from Derby , - , , Branch , 18 , to and Crewe , - , Cheadle Hulme , – , 20 , Route 18 London – Manchester Line becomes Route 20 through to Manchester , - , , Branch , 18 , from (diesel service from , , , Derby and Stoke-on-Trent) , - , + , Junction , 14 , The Welsh Marches Line from South Wales, and , - , + , Junction , 22 , to and the
North Wales Coast Line The North Wales Main Line ( or ; ), also known as the North Wales Coast Line (), is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire, England, running from Crewe on the West Coast Main Line to Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey. The lin ...
, - , + , Junction , 20 , to , , Stockport and Manchester , - , Hartford North , Junction , 20 , (freight only) from , - , Weaver Junction , Branch , 18 , to and Liverpool (Route 20 from ) , - , Liverpool South Parkway , – , 20 , Route 18 London to Liverpool Line becomes Route 20 to , - , , Junction , 22 , from and Chester to Manchester , - , Winwick Jnct , Junction , 20 , to Liverpool, and Manchester , - , Golborne Jnct , Junction , 20 , to Liverpool, and Manchester , - , Ince Moss/Springs Branch Junct , Junction , 20 , The
Liverpool to Wigan Line Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, - , , Junction , 20 , from Manchester , - , Euxton Jnct , Junction , 20 , The
Manchester to Preston Line Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
from Manchester , - , Farington Jnct , Junction , 23 , East Lancashire Line and Caldervale Line , - , Farington Curve Jnct , Junction , 23 , Ormskirk Branch Line, East Lancashire Line and Caldervale Line , - , Preston Dock , Junction , 23 , west , - , , Junction , 20 , to , - , Morecambe South Jnct , Junction , 23 , to , - , Hest Bank Jnct , Junction , 23 , from Morecambe , - , Carnforth Jnct , Junction , 23 , Furness Line to and also the Leeds to Morecambe Line to , - , , Junction , 23 , to , - , , Junction , 23 , Route 23 uses two junctions to the north of the station , - , , Junction , 23 , Route 23 Settle-Carlisle Railway and Route 9 from , - , + , Junction , 23 , The Cumbrian Coast Line from Barrow-in-Furness , - , Gretna Jnct , Junction , 26 , to the Glasgow South Western Line , - , Carstairs South Jnct , Junction , 24 , Route 18 West Coast Main Line becomes Route 24 to , - , Carstairs South , – , 26 , Route 18 West Coast Main Line becomes Route 26 to


See also

* Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway *
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...
*
Great Central Main Line The Great Central Main Line (GCML), also known as the London Extension is a former main line railway in the United Kingdom. The line was opened in 1899, built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), which had been renamed t ...
*
Highland Main Line The Highland Main Line is a railway line in Scotland. It is long and runs through the central Scottish Highlands, mainly following the route of the A9 road (Scotland), A9, and linking a series of small towns and villages with Perth, Scotland, ...
* Irish Sea tunnel *
Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...
*
Midland Main Line railway upgrade The Midland Main Line (MML), a major railway line in the United Kingdom, has been undergoing various upgrades since 2015. The current programme of upgrades began in 2012, although electrification was proposed a number of times previously. The cu ...
* Portpatrick Railway *
Rail transport in Great Britain The railway system in Great Britain is the oldest railway system in the world. The first locomotive-hauled public railway opened in 1825, which was followed by an era of rapid expansion. Most of the track is managed by Network Rail, which i ...
* West Coast Main Line route modernisation


Notes


References


Sources

* * ** ** **


Further reading

* * * * * *


External links


Electric All The Way
– 1974 British Rail information booklet about the completion of electrification to Glasgow.
Rail Industry www page which monitors the progress of the project

Department of Transport – 2006 – West Coast Main Line – Update Report

Network Rail Business Plans and Reports









London to Glasgow in five minutes
– BBC video, December 2008

{{Trans-European Transport Networks Main inter-regional railway lines in Great Britain Railway lines in London Railway lines in North West England Railway lines in South East England Railway lines in Scotland Railway lines in Wales Railway lines in the West Midlands (region) Rail transport in Bedfordshire Rail transport in Birmingham, West Midlands Rail transport in Buckinghamshire Rail transport in Cheshire Rail transport in Coventry Rail transport in Cumbria Rail transport in Greater Manchester Rail transport in Hertfordshire Rail transport in Lancashire Rail transport in Merseyside Rail transport in Northamptonshire Rail transport in Scotland Rail transport in Staffordshire Rail transport in Warwickshire Rail transport in the West Midlands (county) Rail transport in Wolverhampton Standard gauge railways in England Standard gauge railways in Scotland Transport in the London Borough of Brent Transport in the London Borough of Camden Transport in the London Borough of Harrow 25 kV AC railway electrification