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West Coast Main Line
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The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is a busy mixed-traffic railway route in the United Kingdom. It is central to the provision of fast, long-distance Intercity passenger services between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and southern Scotland.
Central to the WCML is its 401-mile (645-km) long core section between London Euston and Glasgow Central with principal InterCity stations at Watford Junction, Milton Keynes, Rugby, Nuneaton, Stafford, Crewe, Warrington, Wigan, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme, Penrith, Carlisle and Motherwell.
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Encyclopedia
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is a busy mixed-traffic railway route in the United Kingdom. It is central to the provision of fast, long-distance Intercity passenger services between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and southern Scotland.
Central to the WCML is its 401-mile (645-km) long core section between London Euston and Glasgow Central with principal InterCity stations at Watford Junction, Milton Keynes, Rugby, Nuneaton, Stafford, Crewe, Warrington, Wigan, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme, Penrith, Carlisle and Motherwell. Strictly (and by definition), this section alone is the West Coast Main Line, but the term now extends to include a complex system of branches and divergences serving the other major towns and cities of Northampton, Coventry, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Stockport, Manchester, Runcorn, Liverpool and Edinburgh.
Beyond this, the WCML also forms a part of the suburban railway systems within London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow with many more smaller commuter stations, as well as providing links to rural towns and villages.
The WCML is of strategic importance in a European context and has been designated as a priority Trans-European Networks (TENS) route. It is the principal rail freight corridor linking the European mainland (via the Channel Tunnel) via London and South East England to the West Midlands, North West England and Scotland and is one of the busiest freight routes in Europe.
History
The line was built between the 1830s and the 1870s, as a number of separate railways, the first being the Grand Junction Railway (Warrington - Birmingham) then the London and Birmingham Railway, both completed in the 1830s. These lines together with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the North Union Railway, the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway amalgamated their operations in 1846 to form the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). North of Carlisle, the Caledonian Railway remained independent and opened its mainline to Beattock in September 1847, to Edinburgh in February 1848 and to Glasgow in November 1849. One important section, the North Staffordshire Railway, which opened its line in 1848 from Macclesfield (connecting with the LNWR from Manchester) via Stoke-on-Trent to Norton Bridge and Colwich, also remained independent until the forced amalgamations of 1923.
Partly to appease the concerns and opposition of landowners along the route, in places some railway lines were built so that they avoided large estates and rural towns, and to reduce construction costs the railways followed natural contours, resulting in many curves and bends. The WCML also passes through some of the more hilly areas of the British mainland, such as the Chilterns (Tring cutting), the Watford Gap and Northampton uplands followed by the Trent Valley, the mountains of Cumbria with a summit at Shap and Beattock Summit in the Leadhills area of southern Lanarkshire. This has left a legacy of lower maximum speeds on the line compared to the East Coast Main Line (ECML) route, and the principal solution to the problem has been the adoption of tilting trains, formerly British Rail's ill-fated APT, and latterly the Class 390 Pendolino trains constructed by Alstom and introduced by Virgin in 2003. A 'conventional' attempt to raise linespeeds as part of the InterCity 250 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.
The route to Scotland was marketed by the LNWR as 'The Premier Line' but operations were complicated by incompatible braking systems since the LNWR used the vacuum brake and the Caledonian used the Westinghouse air brake. Through trains were therefore of necessity composed of dual braked and jointly owned "West Coast Joint Stock" (so named). Following amalgamation, on 1 January 1923, it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and the vacuum brake quickly became standard. In 1947, following nationalisation, it came under control of British Railways' London Midland and Scottish Regions, when the term "West Coast Main Line" officially came into use. However, it is something of a misnomer given that the line only physically runs along the west coast on a brief section overlooking Morecambe Bay between Lancaster and Carnforth for barely half a mile.
The WCML is not a single railway; rather it can be thought of as a network of routes which diverge and rejoin the central core which runs between London Euston and Glasgow Central. The route from Rugby to Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stafford was the original main line until the shorter line was built via the Trent Valley. South of Rugby there is a loop that serves Northampton and a branch north of Crewe to Liverpool which is notable since Weaver Junction on this branch is the oldest flyover type junction in use. Among the other diversions are loops that branch off to serve Manchester, one from Colwich Junction in the Trent Valley south of Stafford via Stoke-on-Trent, one north of Stafford also via Stoke-on-Trent and one via Crewe and Wilmslow. The Windsor Link north-south junction line in Manchester constructed by British Rail in 1988 has made possible a through service via Bolton back to the main line at Preston. A further branch at Carstairs links Edinburgh to the WCML, giving it a direct connection to the East Coast route.
Modernisation by British Rail
The line was modernised and electrified in stages between 1959 and 1974 - initial electrification was in 1959 between Crewe and Manchester and Liverpool, with the rest of the southern section of the line following in stages to 1967; the line from Weaver Junction (where the route to Liverpool diverges) to Glasgow was electrified in 1974. This era was notable for time-consuming and congestion-causing routine changes from at first steam and later diesel to electric traction at busy change-over stations like Birmingham New Street, Crewe and Preston. A policy of "no diesels under the wires" was taken to extremes; at one time excursions from South Wales to Blackpool had to change to electric traction at Crewe and back to diesel at Preston.
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 - the most significant examples of this being Birmingham New Street, Stafford, Coventry and Euston. However, the new look for the railway has not aged well, with the new Euston terminus being the most controversial - the famous Doric Arch portal into the original Philip Hardwick designed terminus was demolished in 1962 amid much public outcry. Only recently have plans been mooted to completely rebuild both New Street and Euston stations.
Electrification of the Edinburgh branch was carried out in the late 1980s as part of the ECML electrification project. Only the Preston - Manchester via Bolton, and Crewe - Holyhead branches remain unelectrified.
Modernisation culminated in the adoption of air brakes for locomotive hauled express trains. Also under British Rail, freight train operations and practices changed drastically resulting in the virtual elimination of the traditional slow moving and generally unbraked pick-up goods train and the introduction of faster moving point to point train load operations using air braked vehicles.
The running of express passenger services on the WCML came under the Inter-City brand in the late 1960s, which prior to privatisation in 1996 was known as "InterCity West Coast". "InterCity CrossCountry" using the West Midlands sections of the WCML was also greatly developed with the introduction of transferred HST units following the electrification of the ECML.
Modernisation brought great improvements, not least in speed and frequency, to many WCML services but there have been some losses over the years. Locations and lines served by through trains or through coaches from London in 1947 but no longer so served include: Windermere; Barrow-in-Furness, Whitehaven and Workington; Huddersfield and Halifax (via Stockport); Blackpool; Colne (via Stockport); Morecambe and Heysham; Southport (via Edge Hill); and Stranraer Harbour. Notable also is the loss of the through service from Liverpool to Scotland.
Modernisation by 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 which would have seen the introduction of new rolling stock derived from that developed for the East Coast electrification introduced alongside a wholesale refurbishment of the WCML itself. But then the privatisation of BR intervened, which saw Virgin Trains win the franchise in 1996 for the running of long distance express services on the line. The bold modernisation plan unveiled by Virgin and the new infrastructure owner Railtrack would see the upgrade and renewal of the line to allow the use of tilting Pendolino trains with a maximum line speed of 225 km/h (140 mph), in place of the previous maximum of 177 km/h (110 mph). Railtrack estimated that this upgrade would cost £2bn, be ready by 2005, and cut journey times London to Birmingham to 1hr (currently 1hr 21mins) and 1hr 45mins London to Manchester.
However, Railtrack had not assessed the technical viability of moving block signalling prior to promising the speed increase to Virgin and the Government. No-one had attempted to implement moving block on a line as complex as the WCML anywhere in the world, and it soon 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 following the Hatfield crash brought a reappraisal of the plans whilst the original cost of the upgrade soared. Despite early fears that the cost overruns on the project would push the final price tag to £13bn, reappraisal of the plans has brought the cost down to between £8bn and £10bn, ready by 2008 with a maximum speed for tilting trains of a more modest 200 km/h (125 mph). Services from Liverpool to the South West and the South Coast were withdrawn by Virgin in September 2003.
The first phase of the upgrade, south of Manchester, opened on 27 September 2004 with London to Birmingham journey times of 1hr 21mins and London to Manchester 2 hours 6 minutes. The final phase of introducing 125mph running along most of the entire length of the line was announced as opening on 12 December 2005, bringing the fastest journey from London to Glasgow to 4 hours 25 mins (down from 5hrs 10mins) although considerable work 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 were the last stages of the project to be completed in late 2008. The upgrading of the Crewe to Manchester line via Wilmslow was completed in Summer 2006.
December 2008 saw the final completion of the decade long modernisation project. On December 15, a fuse blew on a track circuit in northwest London which closed two of the four tracks in the area. The problem was soon rectified, resulting in delays of only 15 minutes on train travel through the area.
New trains for the route include 53 nine-car Class 390 Pendolino trains and initially 30 four-car Class 350 Desiro electric trains for London Midland Trains (with more anticipated) as well as CrossCountry Voyager and Super-Voyager trains for the cross-country services. Pendolino 2005 off-peak frequency of six trains per hour (rising to ten in the morning peak) is planned to increase to nine off-peak by 2009 including three per hour to both Birmingham and Manchester plus an hourly tilting Voyager service to Chester as well as improved services to Liverpool, Preston and Scotland. There will also be an hourly Desiro operation from London to Crewe serving Watford, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Rugby, Nuneaton, Atherstone, Tamworth, Lichfield, Rugeley, Stafford and Crewe.
Virgin Trains recently put forward plans to increase the line speed in places on the WCML and particularly on sections of the Trent Valley Line between Stafford and Rugby from 125 mph to 135 mph after the quadrupling of track had been completed. This would permit faster services and possibly allow additional train paths. 135 mph is claimed to be achievable by Pendolino trains while using existing signalling systems without the need for a cab signalling system. Network Rail are studying this proposal.
In promoting the above proposal Virgin Trains report that passenger numbers on Virgin West Coast have increased from 13.6 million in 1997/98 to 18.7 million in 2005/6, while numbers on CrossCountry have grown from 12.6 million to 20.4 million over the same period.
In September 2006, a new speed record was set on the WCML - a Pendolino train completed the 401-mile Glasgow Central - London Euston run in a record 3 hours 55 minutes, beating the APT's record of 4 hours 15 minutes, although the APT still holds the overall record on the northbound run.
Accidents
- See also: List of rail accidents in the United Kingdom
- 2009 Little Haywood plane crash
- Grayrigg derailment (at Lambrigg Crossovers, south of Grayrigg) - 23 February 2007; 1 killed
- Tebay rail accident - 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 - 1975; 1 killed, 11 injured
- Hixon - 6 January 1968; 11 killed, 27 injured
- Stechford rail crash - 28 February 1967; 9 killed, 16 injured
- Cheadle Hulme - 28 May 1964; 3 killed
- Coppenhall Junction - 26 December 1962; 18 killed, 34 injured
- Harrow and Wealdstone - 8 October 1952; 112 killed, 340 injured - worst accident in England and London.
- Lambrigg Crossing signal box between Grayrigg and Oxenholme - 18 May 1947; express hit light engine through driver missing a signal while looking in his food box; 4 in hospital, 34 minor injuries
- Rail accident at Stowe Hill Tunnel between Nether Heyford and Weedon, Northamptonshire - 21 September 1951; 15 killed.
- Lichfield - 1 January 1946; 20 killed, 21 injured.
- Bourne End rail crash - 30 September 1945; 43 killed, 64 injured
- Winwick Junction - 28 September 1934; 12 killed
- Quintinshill rail crash - 22 May 1915; 227 killed, 246 injured. - worst ever accident in the United Kingdom.
- Wigan North Western railway station - 1 August 1873; 13 killed, 30 major injuries.
The route in detail
Network Rail, successor from 2001 to Railtrack plc, in its latest business plan published in April 2006, has divided its National network into 26 'Routes' for planning, maintenance and operational purposes. Route 18 is named as 'that part of the West Coast Main Line that runs between London Euston and Carstairs Junction' although it also includes several branch lines that had not previously been considered part of the WCML. The northern terminal sections of the WCML are reached by Routes 26 (to Motherwell and Glasgow) and 24 (to Edinburgh). This therefore differs from the "classic" definition of the WCML as being the direct route from London Euston to Glasgow Central.
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 main-line services run by Virgin Trains 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 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 Route 18, which is the core of the WCML, with the new 'Route' names for connecting lines.
The North Wales Coast Line from Crewe to Holyhead and the line from Manchester to Preston are not electrified. Services from London to Holyhead and from Manchester to Scotland are mostly operated either by Super Voyager tilting diesel trains or, in the case of one of the Holyhead services, by a Pendolino set hauled from Crewe by a Class 57/3 diesel locomotive.
London to Glasgow and Edinburgh (Network Rail Route 18)
Branches and loops
The WCML is remarkable for the diversity of branches served from the London to Edinburgh and Glasgow Main Line. The following map 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 (Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line) (Network Rail Route 17)
Crewe-Holyhead (North Wales Coast Line) (Network Rail Route 22)
Crewe-Manchester-Preston (Network Rail Route 20)
Network Rail Route 18 (WCML) - Branches and junctions
| Location | Type | Route | Details |
|---|
| Camden Jnct | Branch | 18 | Watford DC Line (WDCL) | | + | Junction | 6 | North London Line from Primrose Hill joins WDCL and WCML | | Willesden Jnct | Junction | 6 | North London Line from West Hampstead joins WDCL and WCML | | + | Junction | 2 | West London Line from Clapham Junction joins WCML | | + | Junction | 6 | North London Line from Richmond joins WCML | | Willesden Junction | Interchange | 6 | North London Line with Watford DC Line | | Watford Junction | Branch | 18 | Watford DC Line terminates at separate bay platforms | | + | Branch | 18 | St Albans Branch Line (AC single line single section) to St Albans | | Bletchley | Branch | 18 | Marston Vale Line to Bedford | | Bletchley High Level (Denbigh Hall South Jnct) | Branch | 16 | Freight only line to Newton Longville (remnant of mothballed Varsity Line to Oxford) | | Hanslope Junction | Loop | 18 | Northampton Loop leaves a few miles north of Wolverton and rejoins just south of Rugby | | Rugby | Junction | 17 | West Midlands Main Line to Coventry, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stafford | | Nuneaton | Junction | 19 | The Birmingham to Peterborough Line from Peterborough | | + | Junction | 17 | The Coventry to Nuneaton Line | | + | Junction | 17 | The Birmingham to Peterborough Line to Birmingham | | Tamworth | Interchange | 17 | The Cross Country Route (MR) Bristol and Birmingham to Derby and the North East | | Lichfield Trent Valley | Interchange | 17 | The Cross-City Line Redditch to Lichfield | | + | Junction | 17 | north of the station | | Rugeley Trent Valley | Junction | 17 | The Chase Line from Birmingham to Rugeley and Stafford | | Colwich Junction | Branch | 18 | to Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester (Route 20 from Cheadle Hulme) | | Stafford | Junction | 17 | West Midlands Main Line from Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton | | Norton Bridge | Branch | 18 | to Stone to join line from Colwich Jnct to Manchester (Route 20 from Cheadle Hulme) | | Stoke-on-Trent | Junction | 19 | from Derby | | Kidsgrove | Branch | 18 | to Alsager and Crewe | | Cheadle Hulme | - | 20 | Route 18 London - Manchester Line becomes Route 20 through to Manchester | | Crewe | Branch | 18 | from Kidsgrove (diesel service from Skegness, Grantham, Nottingham Derby and Stoke-on-Trent) | | + | Junction | 14 | The Welsh Marches Line from South Wales, Hereford and Shrewsbury | | + | Junction | 22 | to Chester and the North Wales Coast Line | | + | Junction | 20 | to Wilmslow, Manchester Airport, Stockport and Manchester | | Hartford North | Junction | 20 | (freight only) from Northwich | | Weaver Jnct | Branch | 18 | to Runcorn and Liverpool (Route 20 from Liverpool South Parkway railway station) | | Liverpool South Parkway | - | 20 | Route 18 London to Liverpool Line becomes Route 20 to Liverpool Lime Street | | Warrington | Junction | 22 | from Llandudno and Chester to Manchester | | Winwick Jnct | Junction | 20 | to Liverpool, Earlestown and Manchester | | Wigan | Junction | 20 | from Manchester | | + | Junction | 20 | The Liverpool to Wigan Line | | Euxton Jnct | Junction | 20 | The Manchester to Preston Line 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 | | Preston | Junction | 20 | to Blackpool | | Morecambe South Jnct | Junction | 23 | to Morecambe | | Hest Bank Jnct | Junction | 23 | from Morecambe | | Carnforth Jnct | Junction | 23 | Furness Line to Barrow-in-Furness and also the Leeds to Morecambe Line to Leeds | | Oxenholme | Junction | 23 | to Windermere | | Penrith | Junction | 23 | Route 23 uses two junctions to the north of the station | | Carlisle | Junction | 23 | Route 23 Settle-Carlisle Railway and Route 9 from Newcastle | | + | 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 Edinburgh | | Carstairs South | - | 26 | Route 18 West Coast Main Line becomes Route 26 to Glasgow | |
The length of the WCML's main core section is nominally quoted as being 401.25 miles (645.7km). The basis of this measurement is taken as being the distance between the midpoint of Platform 18 of London Euston to that of Platform 1 of Glasgow Central, and has historically been the distance used in official calculations during speed record attempts.
See also
External links
- - time-lapse video, June 2008
- - BBC video, December 2008
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