West Coast Main Line route modernisation

In the middle of the twentieth century the line was upgraded substantially as part of the 1955 Modernisation Plan.[6][7] Further electrification was discussed in 1968.[8] The line north of Crewe was modernised by further electrification from Weaver Junction to Glasgow in the 1970s.[9][10] Some innovative electrical engineering technology was used on the project including lighter catenary and extensive use of headspans.[11] Substantial new signaling also took place in this timeframe.[12] The Advanced Passenger Train concept was in effect a part of that upgrade. It relied on tilting trains to increase speed on the route rather than major civil engineering interventions.[13][14]

The late 20th and early 21st century modernisation began without public sector involvement but with Railtrack. However, the Strategic Rail Authority was concerned about cost overruns. Railtrack asked the government for more money to complete the project but the Labour Party Secretary of State for Transport Stephen Byers put the company into liquidation. This and other problems with this project and its cost and time overruns, is usually considered the cause of the liquidation of Railtrack.[15][16] In 2002 Bechtel was invited to join the project.[17] The upgrade went substantially over budget.[18][19] Regular updates were then conducted by the UK Parliament accounts department.[20] The Strategic Rail Authority published a document in June 2003 which re-examined and clarified many of the assumptions and specified the direction and scope of the whole project.[21]

The upgrade involved:[22]

• Major remodeling of Rugby railway station[23]
• Proof House Junction in Birmingham was also remodelled.
• Many Level crossings were either removed or modernised - 77 in total.
• Over 800 points, switches and crossings renewed, improved or removed
• Overhead line renewals
• Power supply upgrade to autotransformer system
• Track renewals- 430 miles[24]
• Over 2000 signals modified or renewed with better line of sight etc.[25]
• Quadrifying the two track section in the Trent Valley including TAME viaduct[26][27][28]

Preston North WCML AT ready

Barton WCML AutoTransformer ready

WCML Broughton wicketkeeper electrification anchor

The benefits of the project are claimed to be capacity improvements, journey time reductions of up to 28% in some cases and improved safety.[29] Although Virgin Trains were part of the driver for the project, the client is actually listed as the Department for Transport. The length of the project was just short of 11 years (110 months) and the final contract cost of approximately 9 billion pounds.[30] The Campaign for Better Transport (United Kingdom) has stated that the benefits are 1) Road congestion reduction. 2) Carbon emissions reduction. 3) Economic and 4) Passenger benefits. It is claimed it was part of the reason that the BBC decided to move its main operations from London to the north.[31]

During modernisation, much of the signaling was renewed and concentrated in Rugby. However, money ran out and so the south end of the line still uses Wembley which controls assets that fail frequently.[37] This point of failure will need to be addressed in the future. Other upgrades are continuing.[38]

Carstairs has long being considered a bottleneck on the WCML and improvements including signaling, track renewal and other work finished in October 2022. Further work continued in 2023 and included work on the drains and also embankments.[39] The work also included substantial realligning of tracks and platforms to give line speed increases[40] and needed a 12-week closure but was completed on time.[41][42][43]

More power-hungry trains and further electric freight means at many times there is an overload of the power supply on the WCML. Parts of the route, including Preston- Carlisle is sometimes called congested infrastructure due to power supply constraints. Future upgrades will be planned to enhance these.[44]

• 21st-century modernisation of the Great Western Main Line
• Felixstowe–Nuneaton railway upgrade
• High Speed 2
• History of rail transport in Great Britain 1995 to date
• Midland Main Line railway upgrade
• North West England electrification schemes
• Overhead line
• Railway electrification in Scotland
• Transpennine north railway upgrade

• Nock, O.S. (1965). Britain's new railway: Electrification of the London-Midland main lines from Euston to Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Crewe, Liverpool and Manchester. London: Ian Allan. OCLC 59003738.
• Nock, O.S. (1974). Electric Euston to Glasgow. Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0711005303.
• Wickens, Alan (Summer 1988). "APT - With Hindsight". Newsletter of the Friends of the National Railway Museum.
• "On board with electrification". Permanent Way Institution Journal. 139 (1). January 2021. ISSN 2057-2425 – via PWI.
• Wolmar, Christian (2005). On the Wrong Line: How Ideology and Incompetence Wrecked Britain's Railways (rev. ed.). London: Aurum Press. ISBN 1-85410-998-7.
• WOLMAR, CHRISTIAN (2022). BRITISH RAIL-A new History. [S.l.]: MICHAEL JOSEPH. ISBN 978-0-241-45620-0. OCLC 1246353492.
• Keenor, Garry. Overhead Line Electrification for Railways - 6th edition.
• "Network Rail A Guide to Overhead Electrification Revision 10" (PDF). Network Rail. February 2015.
• Buck, Martin; Rawlinson, Mark (2000). Line By Line: The West Coast Main Line, London Euston to Glasgow Central. Swindon: Freightmaster Publishing. ISBN 0-9537540-0-6.
• "EUSTON MAIN LINE ELECTRIFICATION, A Technical Conference sponsored jointly by the British Railways Board and the Institutions of Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Locomotive, and Railway Signal Engineers, 25–26th October 1966". Conference Proceedings. Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMECH). 181 (6 (Part 3F)). 1966–67.
• Brentnall, E. G. (1966). "Paper 2: Signalling and Telecommunications Works on the Euston Main Line Electrification". Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Conference Proceedings. 181 (36): 65–86. doi:10.1243/PIME_CONF_1966_181_108_02.
• Butland, A. N. (1966). "Paper 3: Civil Engineering Works of the Euston Main Line Electrification Scheme". Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Conference Proceedings. 181 (36): 51–64. doi:10.1243/PIME_CONF_1966_181_107_02.
• Emerson, A. H. (1966). "Paper 4: Electrification of the London Midland Main Line from Euston". Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Conference Proceedings. 181 (36): 17–50. doi:10.1243/PIME_CONF_1966_181_105_02.

• Electric All The Way – 1974 British Rail information booklet about the completion of electrification to Glasgow.
• Rail Industry Web page monitoring progress of the project
• Department of Transport – 2006 – West Coast Main Line – Update Report