A range of long-distance services use the route, which are run by two train operating companies: The Trent Valley line was opened in 1847 to give a more direct route from London to the North West of England, bypassing the existing route via Birmingham built by the Grand Junction Railway and the London and Birmingham Railway a decade earlier.

Construction was initially started by an independent company, the Trent Valley Railway (TVR), which was established in Manchester in April 1844.

The largest single engineering feature of the line was the 774 yd (708 m) Shugborough Tunnel near Stafford.

[6] The line was electrified on the 25 kV AC system during the 1960s, in the wake of the 1955 British Rail modernisation plan.

When plans for the modernisation of the WCML were being developed in the 1990s, it was realised that these arrangements could not accommodate the faster Pendolino trains as well as slower local services.

Concurrently, Lichfield Trent Valley signal box was closed and within a month had been demolished.

A 2-mile (3.2 km) section north-west of Colwich Junction, which passes through the 776 yd (710 m) Shugborough Tunnel, remains double track.