| Coventry to Nuneaton Line | |
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| Overview | |
| Locale | Warwickshire Coventry West Midlands (region) |
| Operation | |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Operator(s) | London Midland |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Standard gauge |
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The Coventry to Nuneaton Line is a short branch line linking Coventry and Nuneaton in the West Midlands of England. All of the lines' Absolute Block Signal Boxes have been replaced, as of May 2009, by a new signalling centre in Saltley, Birmingham, controlling Coventry to Three Spires and Rugby Signalling Control Centre (SCC) controlling Three Spires Junction to Nuneaton.
The route currently serves Nuneaton, Bedworth, Bedworth Murco Oil Terminal, Prologis Park Industrial Estate and Coventry. However, the line used to also serve many smaller stations and now closed goods yards. The branch from Three Spires Junction to the former Humber Road Junction (on the WCML to Rugby via Bell Green has been totally lifted and almost nothing remains, part of the track bed has been turned into the Sky Blue Way road.
On December 14, 2011, the UK Government announced an £18.8m project to upgrade the line. New stations will be built at the Ricoh Arena and Bermuda Park while the platforms at Bedworth will be lengthened[1].
Contents |
All passenger services on the line are operated by London Midland who run an hourly service in each direction, provided by a Class 153 diesel unit.
Freight trains also use the line, travelling from the Chiltern Main Line via Leamington Spa, heading towards the West Coast Main Line.
The line was built for the London and North Western Railway and was opened on the 2 September 1850.
On 26 January 1857, 23 of the 28 arches of the Spon End viaduct collapsed. This meant trains travelling south terminated at Coundon Road while the viaduct was rebuilt. This took 3½ years to complete and services to Coventry were restored on 1 October 1860.
The line was closed to passenger traffic on 18 January 1965 as a consequence of The Reshaping of British Railways report. It was re-opened under the Speller Act on 11 May 1987 although Nuneaton Abbey Street has now been permanently closed and replaced with Nuneaton Trent Valley, now just Nuneaton. Initially there were no intermediate stations on the re-opened line until 16 May 1988 when the rebuilt Bedworth station was opened.
The line runs near to the Ricoh Arena football stadium on the northern edge of Coventry. Funding for two new stations, Coventry Arena and Bermuda Park, was approved in December 2011.[1] New plans will also see a station being built at Bermuda Park in Nuneaton, to extend the number of carriages from 1 to 3, a new platform built at Coventry station and also future extensions of the line to Kenilworth and Leamington Spa.[2]