List of railway lines in Great Britain explained

This is a list of railway lines in Great Britain that are currently in operation, split by country and region.

There are a limited number of main inter-regional lines, with all but one entering Greater London.^[1] The line from London to the Channel Tunnel is the only line designated 'high speed', although the other main routes also operate limited-stop express services.

The bulk of the secondary network is concentrated in London and the surrounding East and South East regions; an area marketed by National Rail as London and the South East. The majority of these lines are radial to London.^[2] There is a further concentration of routes around Birmingham in the West Midlands^[3] and in the urbanised part of northern England that stretches from Liverpool in the west, via Greater Manchester to Leeds in the east.^[4]

Some areas, such as Wales and Scotland, have relatively sparse railway provision.^[1] There are local lines throughout all areas of Great Britain with some services designated as community railways.

England

London

This is a list of routes entirely contained within Greater London.^[5]

Name	Route, or previous name	Opened	Regions	Electrified
	formerly "New North Main Line"	1903	London
	to	1878	London
	to	1892	London
	to	1938–1939	London
	to	1873	London	OHLE,
	Balham Junction to	1856–1858	London
	Acton to Cricklewood	1875	London
	to	1869–2010	London
		1863–1866	London
		1894–1868	London	OHLE, (partial)
	GWML to	1903	London
	North Kent East junction to Charlton Junction	1836	London
	to	1857–1882	London
	Barnes Junction to Feltham Junction	1850	London
		1886	London
	Streatham South Junction to	1864-1929	London
	Twickenham to New Maldon	1863–1869	London
	to	1846–1869	London
	to	1904	London
	to	1929	London
		1893	London	OHLE,
	to	1844	London

Terminus

Name	End and major calling points	Countries and regions	Category
		England: London, South East, West Midlands	Main Line
		England: East, East Midlands, London, North East, Yorkshire and the Humber; Scotland	High Speed Main Line
		England: East, London	Main Line
		England: London, South East, South West	High Speed Main Line
		England: East, London, South East.Continental Europe: France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany
		England: East, East Midlands, London, Yorkshire and the Humber	High Speed Main Line
		England: London, South East, South West	Main Line
	London, Glasgow with spurs to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Holyhead and Edinburgh	England: London, North West, South East, West Midlands; Scotland; North Wales	High Speed Main Line

South East England

This is a list of all routes that enter the South East England region.

Name	Route, or previous name	Opened	Regions	Electrified
	to	1852	South East
	to	1848–1863	South East
			South East
		1846	South East
		1863	South East
	to	1895	London, South East
		1839–1941	London, South East
	to	1856	London, South East
	to	1858–1926	London, South East
	to	1849	South East
	to	1844–1873	South East
	to	1852–1910	London, South East, West Midlands
	to	1851–1860	South East, South West, West Midlands
	to	1866	London, South East
	to	1846–1871	South East
		1841	South East
		1847	South East
	, and to and	2022	East, London, South East
	to	1865	London, South East
	SWML to	1849	South East
	to	1845–1852	South East
	to	1857	South East
		2003–2007	London, South East	OHLE,
		1864	South East
	Minster East Jn to Buckland Jn	1847	South East
		1868 and 1899	London, East	Fourth rail, (partial)
	SWML to	1858	South East
	to	1874–1884	South East
	to	1854	South East
	to	1851	South East
	to	1845	East, South East
	to SEML	1844–1856	South East
	to	1885	South East
	to	1849	South East	(partial)
	London to	1846–1849	London, South East
		1850	South East
	to or	1858–1888	London, South East	(Croydon–East Grinstead)
	to	1845–1858	South East
		1847–1868	South East
		1848	South East
		1847–1906	South East, South West
		1884	South East
	to	1864	South East
	to	1860	South East
	Kingston Loop to	1864–1894	London, South East
		1849	South East
	or to	1842–1871	London, South East
		1848–1849	South East
		1847–1868	London, South East
	to	1897–1901	London, South East
		1846–1856	London, South East
	to	1847–1856	South East, South West
	to	1840–1889	South East
	to	1854–1860	South East, South West

South West

This is a list of all routes that enter the South West England region.

Name	Route, or previous name	Opened	Regions	Electrified
		1874	South West
	to	1862	South West
		1841–1842	South West
	to	1867	South West
	to	1851–1860	South East, South West, West Midlands
		1851–1871	South West
		1846–1849	South West
		1850	South West
	to	1845	South West
	to	1857	South West
	to	1860–1901	South West
	to	1863	South West
		1847–1906	South East, South West	OHLE, (partial)
	to	1846–1859	South West
	Bristol to	1840–1900	South West
	to	1850–1903	South West, South Wales
	to	1877	South West
	to	1890–1908	South West
	Exeter to	1851–1854	South West
	Bristol to Southampton	1847–1856	South East, South West
	SWML to Exeter	1854–1860	South East, South West

Terminus

Name	End and major calling points	Countries and regions	Category
		England: East Midlands, South West, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands	High Speed Main Line
		England: South West; Wales: South	Main Line

North West England

This is a list of all routes that enter the North West England region.

Name	Route, or previous name	Opened	Regions	Electrified
	WCML to or	1846–1865	North West	OHLE, (partial)
	to	1887–1896	North West
	to	1863	East Midlands, North West	OHLE,
	or to		North West, Yorkshire and the Humber
		1840	North West
		1850	North West
			North West	OHLE,
		1841	North West	OHLE,
	to	1844–1845	North West
	to	1846–1848	North West
	to	1846–1858	North West
	to or	1842–1845	East Midlands, North West	OHLE,
		1863	North West
	to	1894	North West, Yorkshire and the Humber
	or Victoria to	1849	North West, Yorkshire and the Humber	Planned
	to	1848	North West
		1846–1864	North West, Yorkshire and the Humber	OHLE, (partial)
		1830 onwards	North West	OHLE, (partial)
		1869–1871	North West	OHLE,
		1838–1841	North West	OHLE,
			North West
	to	1855–1888	North West
	to or	1864	North West
	to	1848	North West
	to	1845–1872	North West
		1875	North West, Yorkshire and the Humber
		1848	North West, West Midlands	OHLE,
			North West
	to or	1909	North West	OHLE,
	to	1834–1837	North East, North West
	to	1847	North West	Proposed
Wirral line	Chester, West Kirkby, Elsemere, and New Brighton to Liverpool		North West

West Midlands

This is a list of all routes that enter the West Midlands region.

Name	Route, or previous name	Opened	Regions	Electrified
Birmingham to Peterborough line		1840–1860	East, East Midlands, West Midlands
		1840–1879	West Midlands	OHLE, (partial)
		1852–1867	West Midlands
		1840-1841	West Midlands
	to	1837–1859 (partly closed 1965, reopened 1989–1997)	West Midlands	OHLE,
	to	1852–1910	London, South East, West Midlands
	to	1851–1860	South East, South West, West Midlands
		1851	West Midlands
		1850	West Midlands
		1848	East Midlands, North West, West Midlands	OHLE, (partial)
	or to	1837–1876	West Midlands	OHLE,
		1948	East Midlands, North East, Scotland, South West, Wales, West Anglia, & West Midlands
		1860	West Midlands
		1832–1849	East Midlands, West Midlands
		1881	East Midlands, West Midlands	OHLE,
	to	1908	West Midlands
		1837	West Midlands	OHLE,
		1848	North West, West Midlands
		1848–1887	North West, West Midlands	OHLE,
		1849	West Midlands	OHLE,
		1879	West Midlands
	to and	1879	West Midlands
		1847	West Midlands	OHLE,
		1837	West Midlands	OHLE,
	to	1852–1858
		1848–1849	West Midlands

East of England

Anglia

This is a list of all routes that enter the East of England region.

Name	Route, or previous name	Opened	Regions	Electrified
	to	1858	East	OHLE,
		1840–1860	East, East Midlands, West Midlands
	to	1874–1877	East
	to	1848	East	OHLE,
	to	1845	East
	to ECML	1851	East	OHLE,
	to	1889	East	OHLE,
	to	1854	East
		1847	East
	to	1877	East
	to	1846	East	OHLE,
	to	1865	East
	to		London, East	OHLE,
	to	1843	East	OHLE,
	to	1871–1924	London, East	OHLE,
		1846–1851	East
		1840–1891	London, East	OHLE,
	to	1854–1888	London, East	OHLE,
	to	1845	East, South East
	to	1854	East	OHLE,
		1848–1882	East
		1892	East	OHLE,
	to	1847–1882	East	OHLE,
	to	1862–1922	London, East
	to or	1840–1990	London, East	OHLE,
	to or	1844–1882	East

East Midlands

This is a list of all routes that enter the East Midlands region.

Name	Route, or previous name	Opened	Regions	Electrified
	to	1848	East Midlands
		1840–1860	East, East Midlands, West Midlands
	to	1863	East Midlands, North West	OHLE, (partial)
		1848	East Midlands, North West, West Midlands	OHLE, (partial)
	to	1839–1849	East Midlands
		1849	East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber
	to or	1844	East Midlands, North West	OHLE,
		1840 or 1993	East Midlands
		1832–1849	East Midlands
		1881	East Midlands, West Midlands	OHLE,
		1850	East Midlands
		1846	East Midlands
		1879	East Midlands
	to	1848–1873	East Midlands
	to	1848 (reopened 1993–1998)	East Midlands
		1849	East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber
		1844–1862	East Midlands

North Eastern

This is a list of all routes that enter the Yorkshire and the Humber and North East England region.

Name	Route, or previous name	Opened	Regions	Electrified
	to	1833–1905	North East	(partial)
	to	1835–54	North East, Yorkshire and the Humber
	to	1834–1837	North East, North West
		1852	North East, Yorkshire and the Humber
	to	1825–1887	North East
	to	1846	Yorkshire and the Humber	OHLE,
	to	1848	Yorkshire and the Humber
	or to	1840s	North West, Yorkshire and the Humber
	to	1839–40	Yorkshire and the Humber
		1849	East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber
	to		Yorkshire and the Humber
	to	1848	Yorkshire and the Humber
	to	1894	North West, Yorkshire and the Humber
	or Victoria to	1849	North West, Yorkshire and the Humber	Planned
		1840	Yorkshire and the Humber
		1846–50	North West, Yorkshire and the Humber
			Yorkshire and the Humber	OHLE, (partial)
	to	1845–50	Yorkshire and the Humber
	to	1848	Yorkshire and the Humber
	to	1834	Yorkshire and the Humber	OHLE, (partial)
		1875	North West, Yorkshire and the Humber
		1849	East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber
	to	1848	Yorkshire and the Humber
			South Yorkshire
	to		Yorkshire and the Humber	OHLE, (partial)
	to or	1865	Yorkshire and the Humber	OHLE,
	to	1845–46	Yorkshire and the Humber
		1845	Yorkshire and the Humber

Scotland

Scotrail Intercity lines

• Edinburgh–Dundee line
• Glasgow–Edinburgh via Falkirk line
• Glasgow–Dundee line
• Highland Main Line
• Dundee–Aberdeen line
• Aberdeen–Inverness line

Glasgow commuter lines

• Argyle Line
• Ayrshire Coast Line
• Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line
• Cathcart Circle Lines
• Croy Line
• Cumbernauld Line
• Inverclyde Line
• Maryhill Line
• Motherwell–Cumbernauld line
• North Clyde Line
• Paisley Canal line
• Shotts Line
• Glasgow South Western Line
• Whifflet Line

Edinburgh commuter lines

• Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line
• Edinburgh–Dunblane line
• Fife Circle Line
• North Berwick Branch
• North Clyde Line
• Shotts Line
• Borders Railway

Rural lines and Great Scenic Railways

• Borders Railway
• Far North Line
• Kyle of Lochalsh line
• West Highland Line
• Glasgow South Western Lines

Wales

Main lines

• North Wales Main Line
• South Wales Main Line
• Shrewsbury–Chester line
• Welsh Marches line

Cardiff commuter lines

• Butetown branch line
• Cardiff City Line
• Coryton Line
• Ebbw Valley Railway
• Gloucester–Newport line
• Maesteg Line
• Merthyr line
• Rhondda line
• Rhymney line
• Vale of Glamorgan Line

Rural lines

• Borderlands line
• Cambrian Line
• Conwy Valley line
• Heart of Wales line
• West Wales lines

Lines under construction

Name	Between	Opening	Regions	Electrification
East West Rail	to	2023	South East England	Not initially
High Speed 2	to	~2030	South East England	overhead line

References

Note: many maps cited are dead links as of 2016. Current maps are on the National Rail Enquiries - Maps of the UK National Rail Network Web site.^[6]

See also

• List of closed railway lines in the United Kingdom

Notes and References

1. Web site: National Rail Timetable Map . . 2009 . 26 December 2009.
2. Web site: London and the South East Rail Services . . 17 May 2009 . 26 December 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929121227/http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/print_maps/LondonAndSouthEast.pdf . 29 September 2007 .
3. Web site: Birmingham West Midlands . . 26 December 2009.
4. Web site: Liverpool Leeds Manchester Sheffield . . 26 December 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929140829/http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/print_maps/liverpool.pdf . 29 September 2007 .
5. Web site: London Connections Rail Services . . 17 May 2009 . 26 December 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929174016/http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/print_maps/LondonConnections.pdf . 29 September 2007 .
6. Web site: National Rail Enquiries - Maps of the UK National Rail Network . Nationalrail.co.uk . 24 February 2016.