Trent Valley line

The Trent Valley line is a railway line between Rugby and Stafford in England, forming part of the West Coast Main Line. The line is 51 miles (82 km) long and is named after the River Trent which it follows. It was built to provide a direct route from London to North West England and Scotland, avoiding the slower route via Birmingham, which is congested and 7.75 miles (12.47 km) longer.

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

A range of long-distance services use the route, which are run by two train operating companies:

The Trent Valley line was opened in 1847 to give a more direct route from London to the North West of England, bypassing the existing route via Birmingham built by the Grand Junction Railway and the London and Birmingham Railway a decade earlier. The contractor for the 50 miles (80 km) of double-track line was the London Railway Contractors Partnership of Thomas Brassey, John Stephenson and William MacKenzie. The engineers were Robert Stephenson (no relation to John), George Parker Bidder and Thomas Longridge Gooch and the architect was John William Livock.

Construction was initially started by an independent company, the Trent Valley Railway (TVR), which was established in Manchester in April 1844. Its act of incorporation, the Trent Valley Railway Act 1845, received royal assent on 21 July 1845. Construction of the line commenced in November 1845, the first sod being cut ceremonially at Tamworth by Sir Robert Peel on 13 November. In September 1845 Salford-born 26-year-old Edward Watkin was appointed secretary, and having entered the railway world via the TVR he later went on to become one of Britain's most prominent railway barons.

Whilst under construction, the TVR was bought by the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) on 15 April 1846, the L&BR itself amalgamating with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) on 16 July 1846. The largest single engineering feature of the line was the 774 yd (708 m) Shugborough Tunnel near Stafford. The Trent Valley line was opened to a limited service of local passenger trains and through goods trains on 15 September 1847, to local goods trains on 20 October 1847 (the delay due to the goods-handling facilities at the stations not being completed) and finally to all through traffic on 1 December 1847. It is now part of what is called the West Coast Main Line.

The line was originally built with two tracks, but growing traffic meant that several stretches were widened to four tracks between 1871 and 1909.

The line was electrified on the 25 kV AC system during the 1960s, in the wake of the 1955 British Rail modernisation plan.