Crewe–Derby line

Crewe–Derby line
West Coast Main Line to Preston Crewe West Coast Main Line to London Radway Green and Barthomley Alsager to Keele to Sandbach West Coast Main Line to Manchester Kidsgrove Harecastle Tunnel North ( 130 yd 119 m ) Harecastle Tunnel South ( 1766 yd 1615 m ) Chatterley Longport Potteries Loop Line Etruria Cliffe Vale Halt to Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke-on-Trent Stoke to Leek Line West Coast Main Line to London Carter's Crossing Halt Fenton Longton Normacot Longton, Adderley Green and Bucknall railway Meir Tunnel Meir Foxfield Light Railway Blythe Bridge Cresswell Cheadle branch line Leigh Bromshall to Stafford Uttoxeter Churnet Valley Line to North Rode Marchington Sudbury Scropton Tutbury and Hatton to Burton-on-Trent Egginton Junction GNR Derbs & Staffs Extension Egginton Cross Country Route to Birmingham Castle Donington Line Sinfin branch line Peartree Ramsline Halt Midland Main Line to London Derby Midland Main Line to Sheffield

The Crewe to Derby Line is a railway line in central England, running from Crewe south east to Derby. Services on the line are provided by East Midlands Trains.

The line serves or has formerly served the following places (highlighted place names currently have a station whereas the others formerly had a named station that is now closed): Crewe; Radway Green and Barthomley; Alsager; Kidsgrove; Chatterley; Longport; Etruria; Stoke-on-Trent; Fenton; Longton; Normacot; Meir; Blythe Bridge; Cresswell; Leigh; Bramshall; Uttoxeter; Marchington; Sudbury; Scropton; Tutbury and Hatton; Egginton; Peartree and Normanton; and Derby.

This line was opened by the North Staffordshire Railway Company and became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.

The line was opened between Stoke and Uttoxeter on 7 August 1848. The next stage from here to Tutbury was opened 11 September 1848. Just beyond Tutbury was formerly a branch line to Burton upon Trent, having opened on the same date, but now closed.

A separate company, the Cheadle Railway Company, built a line from Cresswell to Cheadle, which was opened throughout on 1 January 1901 and was closed to passengers in 1953 and to freight traffic in 1978.

The section of line between Egginton and the Midland Railway Derby to Birmingham line was opened on 13 July 1849. The section between Stoke and Kidsgrove is part of the West Coast Main Line, which together with the section from Kidsgrove to Crewe opened on 9 October 1848.

The route is double track for all of its length except for a three mile section between Alsager and Crewe, which was singled by British Rail. The section from Crewe to Kidsgrove was electrified in 2003 for use as a diversionary route for the West Coast Main Line.

In April 2006, Network Rail organised its maintenance and train control operations into "26 Routes". The line from Crewe to Kidsgrove (where it joins the line from Manchester) through to Stoke-on-Trent forms part of Route 18 (The West Coast Mainline). The line through to Derby from the junction just south of Stoke-on-Trent station forms part of Route 19 (The Midland Main Line and East Midlands).

Services

A Class 170 DMU arriving at Tutbury and Hatton in 2005, bound for Skegness.

When Central Trains were awarded the franchise for the line in the 1990s, the Crewe-Derby service (which under BR Regional Railways had run between Crewe, Derby and Nottingham then either Lincoln or Skegness) was expanded to run between Manchester Airport and Skegness. However, poor punctuality meant that this was later curtailed to Crewe-Skegness. In Autumn 2005, further poor performance saw the through service limited to Crewe-Derby.

Peartree station is served on weekdays by two trains daily in each direction. Etruria station lies on the route but was closed in 2005.