Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line

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Legend West Coast Main Line north Stafford Trent Valley Line M6 motorway Penkridge Littleton Colliery A5 road Gailey Four Ashes Brinsford Parkway (proposed) M54 motorway Bushbury Bushbury Junction Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line Wolverhampton North Junction Wednesfield Heath for Wolverhampton Wolverhampton Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway Walsall to Wolverhampton Line Wolverhampton Steel Terminal Chillington Wharf Midland Metro Monmore Green Ettingshall Road Coseley Tipton Dudley Port for South Staffordshire Line Albion Sandwell and Dudley M5 motorway Spon Lane Smethwick Galton Bridge for Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line Smethwick Rolfe Street Soho Chase Line to Walsall Winson Green Harborne Branch Line Monument Lane Cross-City Line Birmingham New Street Cross-City Line Proof House Junction Birmingham to Peterborough Line Camp Hill Line Adderley Park Freight line to Aston Stechford Lea Hall Marston Green Birmingham International M42 motorway Stonebridge Railway Hampton-in-Arden Berkswell Tile Hill Canley Coventry to Nuneaton Line Coventry Coventry to Leamington line Coventry Loop Line for Coventry to Nuneaton Line Brandon and Wolston WCML north (Trent Valley Line) Midland Railway route to Leicester Rugby Great Central Main Line WCML south To Northampton WCML south To Milton Keynes - Step free access - Centro free car parking - Other car parking

The Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line is a loop off the West Coast Main Line (WCML) between Rugby and Stafford via the West Midlands cities of Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

[edit] Places served

The cities, towns and villages served by the line are listed below.

• Stafford
• Penkridge
• Wolverhampton
• Coseley
• Tipton
• Dudley Port - a proposed interchange for Midland Metro
• Sandwell
• Smethwick
• Birmingham
• Adderley Park (Saltley)
• Stechford
• Lea Hall
• Marston Green
• Birmingham International - for National Exhibition Centre and Birmingham International Airport
• Hampton-in-Arden
• Berkswell
• Tile Hill
• Canley
• Coventry
• Rugby

[edit] History

The line from Rugby to Birmingham Curzon Street opened as part of the London and Birmingham Railway in 1837. The following year, the Grand Junction Railway opened from Curzon Street to Wolverhampton, Stafford and north to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. However, this ran via Aston to Wolverhampton (see map). These two companies merged in 1846 to form the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). in 1852, the line from Birmingham to Wolverhampton via Smethwick opened by the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway, which was later absorbed by the LNWR. The LNWR itself became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923, and part of British Railways at Nationalisation in 1948.

The line was electrified along with the rest of the WCML during the late 1950s in the wake of the BR 1955 Modernisation Plan.

In 1987 twelve different horse sculptures by Kevin Atherton, titled Iron Horse, were erected between New Street station and Wolverhampton. ^[1]

[edit] Services

Main-line services are operated by Virgin Trains and London Midland, and stop at the principal stations only. These are joined by occasional services over the northern section of the route by Arriva Trains Wales. Local services are operated by London Midland, generally to the following daytime patterns:

• Birmingham to Birmingham International, then all stations to Coventry: two trains per hour, with one going on to Rugby and Northampton.
• Walsall to Birmingham, and all stations to Birmingham International: two trains per hour (alternate trains do not stop at Adderley Park).
• All stations between Birmingham and Wolverhampton: two trains per hour.
• Additionally, one train per hour between Birmingham, Stafford and Liverpool Lime Street calls at Coseley, Wolverhampton and Penkridge.

Trains from London to the north of England and Scotland are frequently diverted via this route at weekends, due to engineering work on the Trent Valley Line - the direct route from Rugby to Stafford.

[edit] Line gallery

Canley	Tile Hill	Penkridge	New Street Station Iron Horse sculpture , Kevin Atherton
Map of the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line and other local routes

[edit] References

• Jowetts Railways Centres Volume 1, Alan Jowett (PSL, 1993)
• A Century of Railways Around Birmingham and the West Midlands, Volumes 1, 2 & 3, John Boynton (Mid England Books, 1997-1999)
• Rail Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland, S K Baker (OPC, 2004)