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The Northampton loop is a railway line serving the town of Northampton. It is a branch of the West Coast Main Line, deviating from the faster direct main line which runs to the west. The WCML is a four track line up to either end of the Loop: the 'up' and 'down' fast tracks take the direct route while the 'up' and 'down' slow tracks are diverted via Northampton railway station. Generally, fast express trains run via the direct line, while freight and slower passenger services run via the loop line.
The southern interconnect between the Northampton loop and the direct London–Birmingham main line is at Hanslope Junction, just north of Milton Keynes. The lines continue to run alongside until the two routes diverge north of Roade at the northern end of Roade Cutting. The loop line then runs north east for several miles until it reaches Northampton station. After Northampton, the line heads to the north-west for around twenty miles, until it re-joins the main line at Hillmorton Junction at Rugby, just east of Rugby station.
Avanti West Coast provide a small number of Class 390 Pendolino services to London at the extremes of the day. But nearly all Avanti West Coast trains use the direct main line. Line speeds on the loop line are currently limited to compared to on the fast line, making the line unattractive to the routing of fast services. As of 2011, line speeds were expected to increase to once signalling improvements are in place north of Northampton up to Rugby.
Long Buckby; the one other station on the line, is served by the London–Birmingham/Northampton–Birmingham services. The London–Crewe service does not stop at Long Buckby except on Sundays.
The line sees heavy freight train traffic, as it is used by all freight trains on the southern part of the WCML. Many of these are Containerisation trains, with some serving the Daventry International Railfreight Terminal (DIRFT), which is between Northampton and Rugby (thus on the loop line).
This meant however that Northampton, despite being a large town, did not have direct rail links to London. A branch from the main line was built to Northampton in the early 1840s: the Northampton and Peterborough Railway, from Blisworth, which gave the town indirect rail links to London and Birmingham.
The successor to the L&BR, the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) decided to construct the loop line through Northampton in the 1870s. It was built as part of a wider scheme to double the capacity of the West Coast Main Line between and Rugby, by quadruple track the track; however, routing the additional tracks on a deviation via Northampton had the advantage of giving the town a much better rail service, including a direct service to London, and avoiding the expense of widening Kilsby Tunnel. The LNWR obtained Parliamentary approval for the line in 1875, and commenced construction in 1877. The line was opened for goods throughout on 1 August 1881, for passengers between Rugby and Northampton on 1 December 1881, and for passengers between Northampton and Roade on 3 April 1882. The loop line is a total of long, approximately longer than the direct line.
The loop line made use of the existing but small Northampton Castle railway station which occupied part of the site of the historic Northampton Castle. The station needed to be expanded as part of the works, this required the almost complete demolition of what remained of the Castle to make way for it. (1984). 9780901461353, Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 9780901461353
Shortly after the completion of the loop line, the southern approach to Rugby station was remodelled, with a new flying junction built near Hillmorton, which allowed trains from the loop line to run into Rugby station without conflicting with trains on the fast lines.
The line was electrified along with the rest of the WCML during the 1960s in the wake of the BR 1955 Modernisation Plan.
The Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT); a major rail freight interchange, was opened in 1996 with a rail connection to the loop line, and has been expanded several times since.
As funding was not secured, this deadline was not met. Nevertheless, in July 2019, Warwickshire County Council's Draft Rail Strategy for 2019-2034 proposed that the station would be opened between 2019 and 2026, with the possibility that at some point additional platforms could be provided on the 'fast' West Coast Main Line lines, in addition to the slow lines via Northampton.
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