London Northwestern Railway celebrates 180 years since the first train between London and Birmingham

Monday, 17 September 2018

London Northwestern Railway has been celebrating 180 years of history this morning (Monday 17 September) by marking the anniversary of the very first train to operate between London and Birmingham.

On 17 September 1838, the company known as London and Northwestern Railway, operated the first departure from London Euston. The train arrived Birmingham’s Curzon Street station five and half hours later.

180 years later, and 180 passenger services a day now operate along the route during the week.

Betwen 0800 and 0900 this morning, passengers arriving at London Euston enjoyed a surprise breakfast at the station.

There will also be a special giveaway at Birmingham New Street station later in the day, to coincide with the year that the original owning company on the route, London and Birmingham Railway (which later became London and Northwestern Railway), was formed.

The 112 mile stretch of railway has seen vast improvements since it opened, with record levels of investment due to be spent over the coming years.

Network Rail is continuing to upgrade junctions and signalling on the route. The most recent improvements took place at North Wembley Junction over three weekends during August and September 2018.

London Northwestern Railway is also planning to provide an additional 20,000 seats a day into London during peak times as part of a £700 million worth of investment into new trains.

In addition to this, with the construction of HS2, Birmingham’s Curzon Street station will be rebuilt on it’s former site.

Andrew Conroy, customer experience director for London Northwestern Railway said: “The southern stretch of the West Coast mainline remains a key route on our network. To mark this significant anniversary, we wanted to give something back to our customers who travel with us day in day out. A lot may have changed over the past 180 years, including the operators who run services – even though the names seen on the route have remained very similar!”

About West Midlands Trains

For further information on this release, call our press office on 03300 955150 or email [email protected]

West Midlands Trains operate both West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway services.

• London Northwestern Railway services operate between Liverpool and Birmingham, and on the West Coast mainline to and from London Euston.

• West Midlands Railway services operate to destinations across the West Midlands via Birmingham New Street.

For more information on these services visit westmidlandsrailway.co.uk or londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk

The West Midlands Trains franchise started on 10 December 2017 and will run until 2025/26.

West Midlands Trains operate 1,300 services a day, manage 150 stations and provide over 70 million passenger journeys a year. Over the course of the franchise, West Midlands Trains will be investing £1 billion into the rail network to deliver new trains, improved routes and station upgrades. This will include 400 new train carriages across the network and space for an extra 85,000 passengers into Birmingham and London at peak times.

The franchise is a joint venture between Abellio (70.1% share) and East Japan Railway Company / Mitsui & Co., Ltd (29.9% share in a 50:50 split). Abellio is the international passenger transport subsidiary of the Dutch national railway company, Nederlandse Spoorwegen. In the UK, Abelllio operate ScotRail and Greater Anglia train services, Merseyrail services in a joint venture with Serco and buses through Abellio London. For more information visit www.abellio.com

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