This line avoided Coventry and allowed the LNWR to introduce a direct Leamington to Birmingham service.

However, the local passenger service was withdrawn on 18 January 1965, as a result of the Beeching Axe, and Kenilworth, Milverton and Avenue stations were closed.

The Berkswell Loop was closed on 17 January 1969, after a freight train derailed, and the track was lifted the following year.

In 1972, British Rail singled much of the line but retained some double track to form a passing loop at Kenilworth.

[5] The line was also scheduled to be re-doubled from Milverton Junction to Kenilworth and electrified as part of the Electric Spine project,[6] although these plans were put on hold by Network Rail in 2016 and no date has since been given for completion of this work.

[11] The new hourly service operated by West Midlands Trains was initially a shuttle between Leamington Spa and Coventry, calling at Kenilworth.

What remains of double track includes a passing loop at Kenilworth, along with the lines out from Coventry and Leamington Spa to Gibbet Hill Junction and Milverton respectively.

[13] It is also used by the hourly CrossCountry service from Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth, which calls at Coventry and Leamington only.