Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line
The Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line (also known as the Birmingham loop) is a railway line in the West Midlands of England. It is a loop off the West Coast Main Line (WCML) between Rugby and Stafford, via the West Midlands cities of Coventry, Birmingham and Wolverhampton. The direct route between Rugby and Stafford is the Trent Valley Line. Places served. These cities, towns and villages are served by the line: Services. A mixture of intercity, regional, cross-country and local services operate over all or parts of the route. Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Transport for Wales  and West Midlands Trains all operate services. History. The line from Rugby to Birmingham was opened as part of the London and Birmingham Railway, in 1838, and originally ran into its terminus at Birmingham Curzon Street. The Grand Junction Railway opened its line into Curzon Street the following year, linking Birmingham to Wolverhampton, Stafford, and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. However, this line ran via to Wolverhampton (see map). The London and Birmingham, and Grand Junction railways merged in 1846 to form the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Soon after, work started on building a new, more centrally located  station in Birmingham, which became known as Birmingham New Street station. Finally, on 1 July 1852, the Stour Valley Line from Wolverhampton to Birmingham via Smethwick opened. It started at Bushbury, just north of Wolverhampton where it joined the Grand Junction Railway, to Birmingham New Street. It was promoted by the "Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway", which was soon absorbed by the LNWR. The LNWR itself became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923, and part of British Railways during Nationalisation in 1948. The line was electrified along with the rest of the WCML during  the late 1960s in the wake of the BR 1955 Modernisation Plan. In 1987, British Rail commissioned artist Kevin Atherton to produce a series of sculptures to be erected along the line between Birmingham New Street station and Wolverhampton. The finished piece was titled "Iron Horse", and consists of twelve different horse silhouettes, fashioned from steel. The construction material was chosen for its historic associations with the Black Country. Many of the smaller stations on the line were closed in the 1950s and 60s, especially between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. However, some new stations were opened in the late 20th century : station was opened in 1976 to serve Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre, and in 1995 another new station; was opened, serving as a two-level interchange with trains on the Birmingham Snow Hill to Worcester Line. There were also three services a day to Walsall, until a timetable change in May 2019 saw it removed and replaced by two morning services per day to Shrewsbury. Infrastructure. Despite the heavy traffic carried by the line, it is only double track throughout, and heavily congested, especially between Coventry and Birmingham. In the 1930s, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS ) started work on quadrupling the line between Coventry and Birmingham, however only preparatory work was carried out before the scheme was cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II. Periodic calls have been made since to quadruple the line between Coventry and Birmingham to ease congestion. The line is electrified with overhead wires at AC.