It became more important when a line from Stratford on Avon to Broom was opened in 1879, bringing through goods traffic to the route.

Today the northernmost stretch between Barnt Green and Redditch is still in operation as a branch of the Cross-City Line.

It obtained authorisation of a ten-mile Ashchurch and Evesham branch, by the Midland Railway (New Lines) Act of 7 June 1861.

[4][5][6][7][8] Part of the line, from Evesham to Alcester, a distance of nearly ten miles, opened to goods traffic on 16 June 1866.

[4] The Midland Railway had acquired a highly competitive access to Birmingham and to all parts of the country for the Vale of Evesham's fruit and vegetable products; at the same time the OW&WR east-to-west route (by now GWR) had become less strategically important.

The E&WJR aspired to carry Northamptonshire iron ore to South Wales via Stratford and beyond but had run out of money, and was in the hands of the receiver in 1879 when the Evesham company opened its line.

Its authorising Act gave it running powers over the Midland Railway between Redditch and Evesham, although these were never exercised except for access to the station at Broom.

[10][4][11] The connection at Broom faced north, away from South Wales; at first the point of junction was in the middle of a Midland Railway staff section on the single line (Wixford to Salford Priors), a highly improper situation.

Nevertheless, during World War II a heavy traffic over that route developed; the track and signalling on the Stratford line was greatly improved for the purpose.

[13][1][14] The Midland Railway and the OW&WR (later GWR) were alongside one another at Evesham, and for many years there was only an exchange siding connection between the two.

[1] Passenger services between Redditch and Ashchurch showed little variation over the years, normally consisting of four or five trains in each direction on weekdays at roughly three-hourly intervals.

Meanwhile, there was an increase in the Woodford Halse to South Wales traffic from Broom Junction, and in 1960 a double-track east-to-south spur was constructed at Stratford on Avon.

This enabled all the Woodford Halse traffic to be diverted to the Honeybourne route, leaving only local goods services, and the Oxford-South Wales freight trains running over the Evesham–Ashchurch section.

Next the double-track Evesham–Ashchurch section was closed on 9 September 1963, because of the considerable expenditure necessary to maintain the track for heavy freight movements.

[5] In 1962, British Railways announced the intention of withdrawing passenger services on the 28-mile stretch between Redditch and Ashchurch.

But further developments caused all stations on the branch south of Alcester, except Evesham, to be closed completely from 1 July 1963.

[4] These events left the Barnt Green to Redditch section as a short branch of less than 5 miles (8.0 km).

This was proposed for closure as part of the Beeching Axe, but was reprieved due to a local campaign, as well as Redditch gaining the designation of a New Town.

In 2014 a passing loop was constructed on the branch at Alvechurch and this allowed the service to be further upgraded to three trains per hour.