The Crewe–Derby line is a railway line in central

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, running from

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

in a south-easterly direction to

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

, via

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

and

Uttoxeter Uttoxeter ( , ) is a market town in the East Staffordshire district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is near to the Derbyshire county border. It is situated from Burton upon Trent, from Stafford, from Stoke-on-Trent, from ...

. Passenger services on the line are provided by

East Midlands Railway Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. History In March 2017, the Department for Transport ...

History

This line was opened by the

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was bas ...

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 Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The ...

, 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 Egginton is a village and civil parish in the local government district of South Derbyshire, England. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 574. Location The village is located just off Ryknild Street, otherwise know ...

and the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

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. 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 Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

then either Lincoln or Skegness) was expanded to run between

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those ...

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. During 2003 much of the line was closed as part of the West Coast Main Line upgrade with trains terminating at Blythe Bridge and a shuttle bus service running between there and

. After the closure all stations on the route reopened except which was closed in 2005. As a result of the upgrade the section from Crewe to Kidsgrove was electrified for use as a diversionary route for the West Coast Main Line. In May 2021, services provided by

were extended to provide Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent with direct links past Derby to

and Newark Castle, although the service is still run hourly and journeys between Stoke-on-Trent and Nottingham take approximately 90 minutes.

Stations

All stations on the route except and are managed by

. 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):

; Radway Green and Barthomley; Alsager;

Kidsgrove Kidsgrove is a town in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, on the Cheshire border. It is part of the Potteries Urban Area, along with Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme. It has a population of 26,276 (2019 census) ...

; Chatterley; Longport; Etruria;

; Fenton; Longton; Normacot; Meir; Blythe Bridge; Cresswell; Leigh; Bramshall;

; Marchington; Sudbury; Scropton;

Tutbury Tutbury is a village and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. It is north of Burton upon Trent and south of the Peak District. The village has a population of about 3,076 residents. It adjoins Hatton to the north on the Staffordshire–Derb ...

and Hatton; Egginton;

Pear Tree Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

and Normanton; and

Route

The route starts at and follows the

Cross Country Route A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a s ...

as far as North Staffordshire Junction in Willington, then carrying along the main body of the line until Stoke Junction on the

branch of the West Coast Main Line until

, where it then follows the Alsager branch as far as Crewe south junction before terminating at . 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 British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

. Whilst the majority of the route is not electrified, the section between Stoke Junction and Crewe is as part of the West Coast Main Line. In April 2006,

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...

organised its maintenance and train control operations into "26 Routes". The line from

(where it joins the line from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

) through to

forms part of Route 18 (the West Coast Main Line). The line through to

from the junction just south of

station forms part of Route 19 (the Midland Main Line and

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, L ...

Services

The line sees a basic hourly service in each direction from

to Newark Castle via

, Long Eaton and

, with trains calling at all stations on the route except for which is served by two Newark bound trains and three Crewe bound trains per weekday. The majority of services on the route from December 2008 to February 2020 were provided by single car Class 153 "Super Sprinter" Diesel Multiple Units, however Class 158 "Express Sprinter" and Class 156 "Super Sprinter" units were occasionally used. From February 2020, the new

franchise started running Class 153 DMUs in double formation, and occasionally, Class 156 DMUs, however, overcrowding remained a major issue on the route, particularly in the morning and evening peak, and on weekends. Passengers are occasionally left behind. Tutbury and Hatton railway station

With the reintroduction of Class 170 "Turbostar" services on this route, which started in late November 2020, capacity limitations are expected to be eased, with Class 153 and Class 156 DMUs expected to be retired from the route in 2021.

Future

Under the new

franchise, most trains have increased in capacity, with Class 153 DMUs now mostly running in double formation and occasionally being joined by Class 156 DMUs. In the future, there are plans to extend the route to . Local MP Jack Brereton has also called for railway station to be re-opened.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crewe-Derby line Rail transport in Cheshire Rail transport in Staffordshire Rail transport in Derbyshire Rail transport in Derby Railway lines opened in 1848 Railway lines in the East Midlands Railway lines in North West England Railway lines in the West Midlands (region) Standard gauge railways in England