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Birmingham–Peterborough line
Central TrainsClass 170Turbostar atMelton Mowbray in 2006
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	East of England East Midlands West Midlands
Termini	Birmingham New Street Peterborough
Stations	13
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	CrossCountry East Midlands Railway GB Railfreight Freightliner Group DB Cargo UK
Rolling stock	Class 156Sprinter Class 170Turbostar Class 222Meridian InterCity 125
History
Opened	1846
Technical
Number of tracks	2
Character	Secondary[1]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Loading gauge	W10
Operating speed	less than 100 mph (160 km/h)
Route map (Click to expand)

Birmingham–Peterborough line
West Coast Main Line (Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line) Cross Country Route andCross-City Line Birmingham New Street Curzon Street Cross-City Line Camp Hill line West Coast Main Line (Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line) BirminghamFreightliner Terminal (site ofLawley Street station) Saltley Aston–Stechford line Bromford Bridge Castle Bromwich Sutton Park line Water Orton Cross Country Route Coleshill Parkway Hams Hall Freight Terminal Stonebridge Railway Whitacre Junction Freight line toKingsbury Junction Shustoke Daw Mill Colliery Arley and Fillongley Arley Colliery Sidings workmen's platform Stockingford Colliery branch line Stockingford Nuneaton Abbey Street Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway West Coast Main Line (Trent Valley line) Nuneaton North Chord Nuneaton Coventry to Nuneaton line West Coast Main Line (Trent Valley line) Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway Hinckley Elmesthorpe Croft Croft Quarry Narborough Great Central Main Line Blaby Wigston Glen Parva South Wigston Midland Counties Railway Midland Main Line Leicester and Swannington Railway Welford Road no platforms on southbound line Leicester Humberstone Road Great Northern Railway Humberstone Road Junction Syston Midland Main Line ROF Queniborough Rearsby Brooksby Frisby Asfordby Old Dalby Test Track Great Northern and London & North Western Joint Railway Melton Mowbray Saxby Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Whissendine Ashwell Rutland Railway Museum Oakham Manton Oakham–Kettering line Seaton branch Luffenham Ketton and Collyweston Ketton Cement Works Stamford Stamford East Essendine branch Wansford branch Uffington and Barnack Bainton Gate East Coast Main Line Helpston Peterborough–Lincoln line Walton Peterborough Crescent Peterborough Northampton–Peterborough line Peterborough-Ely line East Coast Main Line
This diagram: view talk edit

TheBirmingham–Peterborough line is a cross-country railway line in England, linkingBirmingham,Leicester andPeterborough, viaNuneaton,Oakham andStamford^[1]

Since theBeeching Axe railway closures in the 1960s, it is the only direct railway link between theWest Midlands and theEast of England. The line is important for cross-country passenger services; east of Peterborough, the route gives access from the Midlands to various locations in the East of England, such asEly,Cambridge andStansted Airport via theWest Anglia lines. It is also strategically important for freight, as it allowscontainer trains from thePort of Felixstowe to travel to the Midlands and beyond.

The present route is an amalgamation of lines that were built by separate companies. The sections were:

• The route from Birmingham toWhitacre Junction was built for theBirmingham and Derby Junction Railway in 1840, which later became part of theMidland Railway.
• The line from Whitacre junction to Nuneaton was built by the Midland Railway, and opened in 1864.^{[2][page needed]}
• The line between Nuneaton andWigston was built by theSouth Leicestershire Railway and was also completed in 1864.^[3] The South Leicestershire Railway was taken over by theLondon and North Western Railway in 1867.
• The section between Wigston andSyston via Leicester was built for theMidland Counties Railway (a forerunner of the Midland Railway) in 1840. It is now part of theMidland Main Line.
• The eastern section, theSyston and Peterborough Railway, was built for the Midland Railway and opened in 1846.

The entire route became part of theLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway in the1923 grouping, and the LMS wasnationalised on 1 January 1948 as part ofBritish Railways.

Most Birmingham-Leicester passenger trains were taken over by diesel units from 14 April 1958, taking about 79 minutes between the two cities.^{[4][full citation needed]}

In 1977 the Parliamentary Select Committee on Nationalised Industries recommended consideringelectrification of more of Britain's rail network.^[5] By 1979 BR presented a range of options to do so by 2000,^[6] some of which included the Birmingham to Peterborough Line.^[7] Under the1979–90 Conservative governments that succeeded the1976–79 Labour government, the proposal was not implemented.

The route was privatised in the 1990s as part ofRailtrack and is now part ofNetwork Rail.

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In the 1980s, local services were worked byClass 105Diesel Multiple Units and long-distance services, such as those betweenBirmingham New Street andNorwich, were operated by formations ofClass 31 locomotives with rakes of fourMark 1 carriages. From 1986 the firstSprinter trains operated on the line,Class 150s, subsequently replaced byClass 156SuperSprinter units from 1988. From this time, the service operated hourly between Birmingham New Street andEly with alternate services continuing toCambridge (Stansted Airport from 1991) orNorwich.

Central Trains operated the route from privatisation, and for operational convenience combined services on the route either side of Birmingham New Street, which created through services such asAberystwyth andChester to Cambridge and Stansted Airport andLiverpool Lime Street to Stansted Airport, although these were subsequently cut back - services to Aberystwyth ceased in 2001, although a few services continued to terminate atShrewsbury until 2004, whilst Liverpool was removed in 2003 to improve performance.

The service in 2016 consists of two trains per hour between Birmingham andLeicester, one of the two calling at limited stops to Leicester and continuing to Stansted Airport viaPeterborough, Ely and Cambridge, operated byCrossCountry.East Midlands Railway operates a handful of services along the section between Syston and Peterborough (servingMelton Mowbray andOakham) as part of itsLondon St Pancras service viaCorby. In addition, there are a few services betweenNottingham and Norwich operated by EMR which also serveStamford.

Cross Country services are exclusively worked byClass 170Turbostar units, while EMR useClass 158Express Sprinter trains on services to Norwich andClass 222Meridian trains for London services. In addition, EMR also operate an eveningSpalding to Nottingham service which is worked by aClass 170Turbostar.

Freight trains use the route between the West Midlands and East Anglia, primarily container trains to thePort of Felixstowe and sand trains to King's Lynn.

TheFelixstowe–Nuneaton railway upgrade is a large project with a number of elements that will allow more railfreight traffic between theHaven ports and the Midlands. The work was prompted by the 'Felixstowe South' expansion at thePort of Felixstowe. It is also in response to the predicted increase in the number of high-cube (Hi-cube)shipping containers arriving at the ports that cannot currently be accommodated on the route. The percentage of high-cube containers increased from 30% in 2007 to 50% in 2012. Withoutloading gauge enhancement these larger containers would have had to be transported by road or via a longer rail route via London that was already operating at capacity.^[8] Network Rail completed the gauge enhancement from Ipswich to Peterborough in 2008.^[9]Work took place in three phases:

• Phase 1
  • Nuneaton North Chord (see below)^[10]
  • Peterborough to Nuneaton Gauge (W10) (see below)^[10]
• Phase 2a^[10]
  • Doubling 8 km of theFelixstowe Branch Line^[9]
  • Doubling theIpswich to Ely Line between Soham Junction and Ely
  • Raising speed restrictions for freight trains between Ipswich and Peterborough
• Phase 2b
  • Capacity enhancement Peterborough to Nuneaton during CP5^[10]

The work, detailed in theNetwork Rail Freight Route Utilisation Strategy, should be completed by 2014.^{[11][needs update]} at an estimated cost of £291 million.^[10]

The government is providing £80 million^[12] and it will also receive £5 million fromNetwork Rail and £1 million from theEast of England Development Agency.^[13] It has been estimated that the scheme would take 225,000 lorries off the road.^[14]

In February 2010 Network Rail confirmed that it would construct the 1 km'Bacon Factory Chord' in Ipswich to allow trains to travel between theEast Suffolk line and theIpswich–Ely line without reversing into Ipswich Station and to also perform work to increase capacity betweenEly–Peterborough line^{[clarification needed]} at a total cost of £50m.^[15] It was stated that the work would 'take 750,000 lorries off the roads'.^[15]

Enhancement of a section of the Birmingham–Peterborough line involving the reconstruction of 14 bridges, 11 tracking lowering/slewing schemes and oneaccommodation bridge. The cost is estimated at £40.5 million.^[10] The West Coast Main Line is already cleared to W10 and the route from Nuneaton to Birmingham is already cleared to W12.^[16] W10 gauge clearance was achieved on 4 April 2011 and GBRf trains requiring W10 gauge began using the route that day.^{[citation needed]}

The Nuneaton North Chord was completed and opened on 15 November 2012.^[17] The chord allows freight traffic approaching Nuneaton from Felixstowe via the Birmingham–Peterborough line to proceed north on the West Coast Main Line without conflicting with southbound main-line trains.^[18] It consists of a one-mile chord from the existing flyover over the West Coast Main Line to join the line to the north.^[19] The cost of this work was £25.6 million.^[10] A Transport & Works Act Order for the Nuneaton North Chord was granted by the Secretary of State for Transport in July 2010.^[20] Work began in mid-2011.^[18]

• Railway Electrification.British Railways Board (Central Publicity Unit). Winter 1979. pp. 0–2, 8.

• Rail transport in Warwickshire
• Rail transport in Leicestershire
• Rail transport in Lincolnshire
• Rail transport in Cambridgeshire
• Transport in Peterborough
• Transport in Rutland
• Railway lines in the East of England
• Railway lines in the East Midlands
• Railway lines in the West Midlands (region)
• Standard gauge railways in England

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