West Coast Main Line

West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line running alongside the M1 motorway at Watford Gap
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerNetwork Rail
Locale
Termini
Stations46
Service
Type
SystemNational Rail
Operator(s)
History
Opened1837–1881
Technical
Line length399 mi (642 km)[1]
Number of tracksTwo, four or six
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Loading gaugeW10
ElectrificationOverhead line25 kV 50 Hz AC
Operating speed
  • 110 or 125 mph (180 or 200 km/h)[a]
Route map

(Click to expand)
Edinburgh Waverley (Edinburgh Trams St Andrew Sq.)
Haymarket Edinburgh Trams
Glasgow Central (Glasgow Subway St Enoch)
Motherwell
Carstairs
Carstairs South Junction
Lockerbie
Carlisle
Penrith
Oxenholme Lake District
for Windermere
Lancaster
Preston
for Blackpool North
Euxton Junction
Bolton
Wigan North Western
Warrington Bank Quay
Liverpool Lime Street Merseyrail
Liverpool South Parkway Merseyrail
Runcorn
Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Metrolink
Stockport
Holyhead for Dublin Port ferry/water interchange
Chester Merseyrail
Cheadle Hulme Junction
Crewe North Junction
North Wales Coast Line
Crewe
Macclesfield
Stoke-on-Trent
Stone Junction
Norton Bridge Junction
Stafford
Stafford South Junction
Wolverhampton Midland Metro
Lichfield Trent Valley
Cross-City Line
Birmingham New Street Midland Metro
Tamworth
Cross Country Route
Birmingham International Birmingham Airport
Nuneaton
Coventry
Rugby Trent Valley Junction
Rugby
Hillmorton Junction
Northampton
Hanslope Junction
Milton Keynes Central
Watford Junction London Overground
London Euston London Underground London Overground
All routes shown.
A detailed diagram of the core route can be
found at West Coast Main Line diagram.

The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest mixed-traffic railway routes in Europe, carrying a mixture of intercity rail, regional rail, commuter rail and rail freight traffic. The core route of the WCML runs from London to Glasgow for 400 miles (644 km) and was opened from 1837 to 1881. With additional lines deviating to Northampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh, this totals a route mileage of 700 miles (1,127 km).[3][4] The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line connects the WCML to Edinburgh. However, the main London–Edinburgh route is the East Coast Main Line. Several sections of the WCML form part of the suburban railway systems in London, Coventry, 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) through London and South East England to the West Midlands, North West England and Scotland.[5] 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".[6]

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 (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 (LMS) when the railway companies were grouped under the Railways Act 1921. The LMS itself was nationalised in 1947 to form part of British Railways (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 of the route, and the introduction of modern intercity passenger services at speeds of up to 110 mph (177 km/h).[7] 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 project in the early-1990s. Further modernisation of the route finally occurred during the 2000s in the period of privatisation, which saw speeds raised further to 125 mph (201 km/h) and the introduction of tilting Class 390 Pendolino trains.

As much of the line has a maximum speed of 125 mph (201 km/h), it meets the European Union's definition of an upgraded high-speed line,[8] although only Class 390 Pendolinos and Class 221 Super Voyagers with tilting mechanisms operated by Avanti West Coast travel at that speed. Non-tilting trains are limited to 110 mph (177 km/h).[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference railwaytechnology was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "West Coast Main Line - Question for Department for Transport". UK Parliament. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  3. ^ Butcher, Louise (16 March 2010). "Railways: West Coast Main Line". House of Commons Library. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  4. ^ "Supplement to the October 2013 Strategic Case for HS2 Technical Annex: Demand and Capacity Pressures on the West Coast Main Line" (PDF). gov.uk. Department for Transport. November 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  5. ^ West Coast Main Line Archived 17 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Network Rail, October 2007.
  6. ^ "Special Focus - West Coast Main Line Backbone of Britain". Modern Railways. Vol. 79. Key Publishing. March 2022. pp. 51–66.
  7. ^ Sonagra, Radhika (18 July 2024). "50 years of electrifying the West Coast Main Line". Network Rail. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  8. ^ "General definitions of highspeed". International Union of Railways. Retrieved 17 March 2011.


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