North Warwickshire Line

North Warwickshire Line (Shakespeare Line)
A West Midlands Trains Class 172 at Stratford-upon-Avon station
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Birmingham Warwickshire West Midlands West Midlands (region)
Stations	20
Service
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
History
Opened	1908
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e North Warwickshire Line
Legend
Birmingham–Worcester line Birmingham Snow Hill Snow Hill Tunnel Rugby–Birmingham– Stafford Line Birmingham Moor Street Bordesley A4540 road Grand Union Canal Camp Hill line Small Heath Grand Union Canal Tyseley TMD Tyseley Tyseley Junction Chiltern Main Line Spring Road Hall Green Yardley Wood Shirley Stratford Canal Whitlocks End Wythall Earlswood limit of TfWM area The Lakes M42 motorway Wood End Danzey to Chiltern Main Line Henley-in-Arden Wootton Wawen River Alne Alcester–Hatton branch line Edstone Aqueduct Bearley Junction Leamington–Stratford line Wilmcote Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway Stratford Canal Stratford-upon-Avon   Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway   Honeybourne Line to Honeybourne

The North Warwickshire Line (also known as the Shakespeare Line^[1]) is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. It runs from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, now the southern terminus of the line, although until 1976 the line continued to Cheltenham as part of the Great Western Railway route from Birmingham to Bristol.

The line is one of the Snow Hill lines. It is not electrified and is operated by West Midlands Trains using Class 172 diesel multiple units.

The northern part of the line is suburban in nature, and has a regular and busy commuter service into central Birmingham. The southern part (south of Whitlocks End) is rural in nature, and has a less frequent service, with a number of rural request stops.

Despite the name, the line does not pass through the area commonly known as North Warwickshire, instead, the name of the line was believed to be derived from that of the local hunt.^[1]