The West Coast Main Line

The West Coast Main Line links 56 stations, with a top line speed of 125 mph.

See the West Coast Main Line on the live map

The map draws the line on its own, names every station along it, and shows the trains running on it right now.

The line in numbers

No end-to-end length is given for this line because OpenStreetMap applies its name to several separate stretches of track, so any figure measured from the map data would be a fragment of the real route rather than the whole of it.

Stations on this line

• Glasgow Central25.3 million a year
• Rutherglen871,338 a year
• Cambuslang831,150 a year
• Newton609,912 a year
• Uddingston702,066 a year
• Motherwell1.0 million a year
• Shieldmuir121,668 a year
• Carluke292,568 a year
• Carstairs31,886 a year
• Lockerbie210,848 a year
• Carlisle2.3 million a year
• Penrith (North Lakes)715,822 a year
• Oxenholme Lake District675,144 a year
• Carnforth196,102 a year
• Lancaster2.2 million a year
• Preston5.4 million a year
• Leyland450,718 a year
• Euxton Balshaw Lane75,928 a year
• Wigan Wallgate1.3 million a year
• Wigan North Western1.4 million a year
• Warrington Bank Quay1.5 million a year
• Acton Bridge54,980 a year
• Hartford218,272 a year
• Winsford215,328 a year
• Crewe3.4 million a year
• Stafford2.5 million a year
• Adderley Park147,180 a year
• Stechford417,294 a year
• Berkswell284,690 a year
• Rugby2.4 million a year
• Wolverton338,874 a year
• Milton Keynes Central6.1 million a year
• Bletchley1.4 million a year
• Leighton Buzzard1.5 million a year
• Cheddington83,010 a year
• Tring787,982 a year
• Berkhamsted1.3 million a year
• Hemel Hempstead1.6 million a year
• Apsley518,088 a year
• Kings Langley507,206 a year
• Watford Junction6.9 million a year
• Bushey1.2 million a year
• Carpenders Park1.2 million a year
• Hatch End695,916 a year
• Headstone Lane516,542 a year
• Harrow & Wealdstone4.0 million a year
• Kenton1.4 million a year
• South Kenton643,152 a year
• North Wembley1.2 million a year
• Wembley Central4.4 million a year
• Harlesden1.6 million a year
• Willesden Junction7.0 million a year
• Kensal Green999,796 a year
• Queen's Park4.9 million a year
• Kilburn High Road758,448 a year
• South Hampstead477,560 a year

The busiest station on the line is Glasgow Central, 25.3 million entries and exits a year and 17th busiest in Britain.

Freight on this line, hour by hour

Freight is booked over the West Coast Main Line on 4,136 paths in the week beginning 12 October 2026: 720 paths on the Wednesday, 470 paths on the Saturday and 132 paths on the Sunday. 659 of them run whatever the traffic; the rest are held in the timetable and used only when there is something to move. The busiest hour is 04:00 to 05:00 on the Tuesday, with 111 paths booked.

The grid counts the goods trains booked to pass in each hour of the week beginning 12 October 2026: the darker the hour, the more paths, and a dot marks an hour with at least one path that runs regardless. Engineering trains, empty stock and light engines are not counted. Across Britain only about a fifth of booked freight paths run on a given day, so a booked path is a possibility rather than a promise; the freight statistics page explains how that is measured.

Paths booked in the hournone12 to 34 to 78 to 1516 or moreone runs regardless

Lines it meets

Argyle Line, Camden to Watford Junction Line, Chiltern Main Line, Crewe to Derby Line, DC Electric Lines, Furness Line, Hamilton Circle Line, Kirkhill Line, Lakes Line, Rugby Birmingham and Stafford Line, Watford DC line, Windsor Bridge North Junction (Salford Crescent) and Southport Line.

Passenger figures are the Office of Rail and Road's estimates of station usage for 2024-25, added up across the stations on this line. They count entries and exits at those stations rather than journeys along the line, and a station served by more than one line is counted for each of them.

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