West Coast Main Line

West Coast Main Line

The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between Greater London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the Central Belt of Scotland. Since an upgrade in recent years, much of the line has trains running at 125 mph (201 km/h), thereby meeting the European Union's definition of an upgraded high-speed line.

The WCML is the most important intercity rail passenger route in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh which have a combined metropolitan population of over 18 million people. In addition, several sections of the WCML form part of the suburban railway systems in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, with many more smaller commuter stations, as well as providing a number of links to more rural towns. In 2008 the WCML handled 75 million passenger journeys.

The WCML is also one of the busiest freight routes in Europe, carrying 43% 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. The line has been declared a strategic European route and designated a priority Trans-European Networks (TENS) route.

Read more about West Coast Main Line:  Geography, Accidents, The Route in Detail

Famous quotes containing the words west, coast, main and/or line:

    We were young, we were merry, we were very very wise,
    And the door stood open at our feast,
    When there passed us a woman with the West in her eyes,
    And a man with his back to the East.
    Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861–1907)

    It cannot but affect our philosophy favorably to be reminded of these shoals of migratory fishes, of salmon, shad, alewives, marsh-bankers, and others, which penetrate up the innumerable rivers of our coast in the spring, even to the interior lakes, their scales gleaming in the sun; and again, of the fry which in still greater numbers wend their way downward to the sea.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    In most books, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    A line in long array, where they wind betwixt green islands;
    They take a serpentine course—their arms flash in the sun—hark to the musical clank;
    Walt Whitman (1819–1892)