The Central line is a London Underground line that runs through central London, from Epping, Essex, in the north-east to Ealing Broadway and West Ruislip in west London. Printed in red on the Tube map, the line serves 49 stations over 46 miles (74 km), making it the longest line on the Underground. It is one of only two lines on the Underground network to cross the Greater London boundary, the other being the Metropolitan line. One of London's deep-level railways, Central line trains are smaller than those on British main lines.
The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between Aldgate in the City of London and Amersham and Chesham in Buckinghamshire, with branches to Watford in Hertfordshire and Uxbridge in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the line is 41.4 miles (66.7 km) in length and serves 34 stations. Between Aldgate and Finchley Road, the track is mostly in shallow "cut and cover" tunnels, apart from short sections at Barbican and Farringdon stations. The rest of the line is above ground, with a loading gauge of a similar size to those on main lines. Just under 67 million passenger journeys were made on the line in 2011/12.
The East London line is part of the London Overground, running north to south through the East, Docklands and South areas of London. It was previously a line of the London Underground.
The North London line (NLL) is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of west, north-west, north, and north-east London, England between Richmond in the south-west and Stratford in the east, avoiding central London. Its route is a rough semicircle.
Merseyrail is a commuter rail network which serves Merseyside and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail serves 69 stations, 67 of which it manages, across two lines – the Northern Line and the Wirral Line. The network uses 750 V DC third rail electrified lines having 75.0 miles (120.7 km) of routes, of which 6.5 miles (10.5 km) are underground. Since January 2023, Merseyrail commenced replacing its train fleet, withdrawing the Class 507 and 508 trains and introducing 53 new Class 777 trains. The network carried 25.5 million passengers in the 2022/2023 statistical period.
The Upfield line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's fifth shortest metropolitan railway line at 20.1 kilometres (12.5 mi). The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melbourne to Upfield station in the north, serving 19 stations via North Melbourne, Brunswick, Coburg, and Fawkner. The line operates for approximately 19 hours a day with 24 hour service available on Friday and Saturday nights. During peak hours, headways of up to 15 minutes are operated with services every 20–30 minutes during off-peak hours. Trains on the Upfield line run with a two three-car formations of Comeng or Siemens Nexas trainsets.
The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) is a 17+1⁄2 miles (28.2 km) preserved standard gauge heritage railway, one of the longest in Great Britain. Preservation efforts began in 1974, but the line re-opened to passengers only in the mid-1990s as part of the "new generation" of heritage railways. The MNR owns and operates most of the former Wymondham-Fakenham branch line of the Norfolk Railway. The branch opened in 1847, was closed to passengers in stages from 1964 to 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts, and was finally fully closed to goods traffic in 1989.
The Calder Valley line is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool. It is the slower of the two main rail routes between Leeds and Manchester, and the northernmost of the three main trans-Pennine routes.
Stockport railway station in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, is 6 miles south-east of Manchester Piccadilly on the West Coast Main Line to London Euston.
The North Mersey Branch (NMB) is a railway line that connected the Liverpool and Bury Railway at Fazakerley Junction with North Mersey and Alexandra Docks.
The Mid-Cheshire line is a railway line in the north-west of England that runs from Chester to Edgeley Junction, Stockport; it connects Chester with Manchester Piccadilly, via Knutsford. After Chester Northgate closed in 1969, the section between Mickle Trafford Junction and Chester was used for freight trains only until it closed in 1992; from Mickle Trafford, passenger trains use the Chester–Warrington line to Chester General instead. The route taken by passenger trains has changed over the years and now differs considerably from the original. Between 2001 and 2014, passenger journeys on the line increased to over 1.7 million per year. A near doubling of the passenger service was expected to occur from December 2018, however this did not materialise.
The Walsall–Wolverhampton line is a railway line in the West Midlands, England. It connects the town of Walsall to the city of Wolverhampton. The complete line does not currently have any regular scheduled passenger services: The line's local passenger service was withdrawn in 1965, it was restored in 1998, only to be withdrawn again in 2008. At present, the main use of the line is by freight trains, and it is also used as a diversionary route when engineering works are carried out on the West Coast Main Line.
The Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway was a railway company that built an east-west railway on the southern margin of Edinburgh, Scotland, primarily to facilitate the operation of heavy goods and mineral traffic across the city. The line opened in 1884. Although its route was rural at the time, suburban development quickly caught up and passenger carryings on the line were buoyant; the passenger service operated on a circular basis through Edinburgh Waverley railway station.
The Glasgow Central Railway was a railway line built in Glasgow, Scotland by the Caledonian Railway, running in tunnel east to west through the city centre. It was opened in stages from 1894 and opened up new journey opportunities for passengers and enabled the Caledonian Railway to access docks and industrial locations on the north bank of the River Clyde. An intensive and popular train service was operated, but the long tunnel sections with frequent steam trains were smoky and heartily disliked.
The Fawley branch line, also known as the Waterside line is a standard-gauge railway line to Fawley, in the English county of Hampshire. It is on the opposite side of Southampton Water from the city of Southampton itself, in an area known as Waterside. For 40 years a passenger service operated, but this was withdrawn with the exception of the occasional enthusiasts' railtour. The line serves the freight needs of Marchwood Military Port, having also served the same function for Fawley Refinery until 2016.
The Midland Railway branches around Walsall were built to give the Midland Railway independent access to Wolverhampton, and to a colliery district at Brownhills. The Midland Railway had a stake in the South Staffordshire Railway giving it access to Walsall, and the Walsall and Wolverhampton Railway (W&WR) was opened in 1872. At first the W&WR was independent and neutral, but it was acquired by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), and then sold by that company to the Midland Railway.
The Ayr and Dalmellington Railway was a railway company in Scotland, which connected the growing ironworks community around Dalmellington with Ayr, in Ayrshire, Scotland. Its route was originally planned by the Ayrshire and Galloway Railway as part of a scheme to link Ayr with Castle Douglas, but lack of funds limited the construction to a very short section connecting the iron and coal pits of the Dalmellington Iron Company with its iron works, opening in 1849.
The Coatbridge Branch of the North British Railway was a railway built to connect the important coal and iron industrial districts of Coatbridge and Airdrie directly to Glasgow for the North British Railway.
The Chesham branch is a single-track railway branch line in Buckinghamshire, England, owned and operated by the London Underground. It runs from a junction at Chalfont & Latimer station on the Metropolitan line for 3.89 miles (6.26 km) northwest to Chesham. The line was built as part of Edward Watkin's scheme to turn his Metropolitan Railway (MR) into a direct rail route between London and Manchester, and it was envisaged initially that a station outside Chesham would be an intermediate stop on a through route running north to connect with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Deteriorating relations between the MR and LNWR led to the MR instead expanding to the northwest via Aylesbury, and the scheme to connect with the LNWR was abandoned. By this time much of the land needed for the section of line as far as Chesham had been bought. As Chesham was at the time the only significant town near the MR's new route, it was decided to build the route only as far as Chesham, and to complete the connection with the LNWR at a future date if it proved desirable. Local residents were unhappy at the proposed station site outside Chesham, and a public subscription raised the necessary additional funds to extend the railway into the centre of the town. The Chesham branch opened in 1889.
