The Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Low Level Line was part of the Great Western Railway's London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside route.

[1] It quickly joined forces with the Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway and both companies were bought by the Great Western on 14 November 1846.

[1] Stations were: Birmingham Snow Hill - Hockley - Soho & Winson Green - Hawthorns Halt - West Bromwich - Swan Village - Wednesbury Central - Bradley & Moxley - Bilston Central - Priestfield - Wolverhampton Low Level.

The northern section of the railway beyond the scrapyard at Bilston closed in December 1982, and the final section from Wednesbury to Bilston stayed open until August 1992, but by this time plans were afoot for the bulk of the line to be reopened within a few years as the first line of the Midland Metro tram network.

The Metro runs parallel to the Jewellery Line from Snow Hill to a point north of The Hawthorns and makes it the only time the metro is on the same line as heavy rail and it remains side by side with heavy rail from the south of the Hawthorns to Birmingham Snow Hill before it continues on street level into the city centre.