Colwich–Stone line

This route goes direct from Rugeley Trent Valley to Stoke-on-Trent, not going via Stafford.

The line was built by the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) and opened to traffic on 1 May 1849.

[3] The line was the location of the Hixon rail crash in January 1968, which killed 11 people.

The route was electrified with 25 kV overhead as part of the electrification of the West Coast Main Line by British Rail in the 1960s.

Nearly all of the traffic it carries is now passenger trains, although there used to be a regular flow of Class 47 powered Merry Go Round coal services from the coal mines of the Stoke-on-Trent area to the Rugeley power stations.