West Coast Main Line

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This page contains information on our consideration of capacity, performance and current applications for access on the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

Applications

Further information on current applications on the WCML is available on our current applications page.

Process for current applications

We have provided a number of updates to stakeholders to set out how we plan to take forward our consideration of competing applications on the WCML. Network Rail also wrote to us on 8 July 2021 with an update:

WCML Capacity Study

In 2019 we asked Network Rail to produce a capacity report to inform ORR on the capacity options that exist on the WCML.

WCML Capacity Assessment
Published 4 March 2020

Network Rail WCML Capacity Study Remit
Published 10 January 2020

Track Access factsheet

If a railway operator wants to run trains on the rail network, it must seek the independent rail regulator's approval for a track access agreement with Network Rail.

How we make our decisions on track access and what factors we consider when making those decisions: