West Coast Main Line

The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is a significant railway corridor in the United Kingdom which connects 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 approx. 400 miles (644 km) and was opened between 1837 and 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 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 with tilting mechanisms operated by Avanti West Coast travel at that speed. Non-tilting trains are limited to 110 mph (177 km/h).^[2]

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