The line was built for the
London and North Western Railway and was opened on 2 September 1850. On 26 January 1857, 23 of the 28 arches of the
Spon End Viaduct collapsed, due to poor quality construction. This meant trains travelling south terminated at while the viaduct was rebuilt. This took three and a half years to complete and services to Coventry were restored on 1 October 1860.
2016 station openings The line runs near to the
Coventry Building Society Arena stadium on the northern edge of Coventry. Funding for two new stations,
Coventry Arena and
Bermuda Park, was approved in December 2011. New plans will also see the number of carriages increased from 1 to 3 and the service upgraded to half hourly, a new platform built at Coventry station and also future extensions of the line to and . After the completion of the
Electric Spine project, such a service would be operated by
electric multiple units. Work on building the stations started in October 2014 with the stations opening on 18 January 2016,
Service upgrade From 19 May 2019, services on the Coventry to Nuneaton route have been significantly upgraded by
West Midlands Trains, with the single-car Class 153s replaced by 2-car units. Saturdays (which will coincide with games at the
Coventry Building Society Arena) will see three trains per hour in each direction. The line is also connected with the Coventry to Leamington Spa line, with direct trains from Nuneaton to Leamington Spa. In December 2021
West Midlands Trains once again declared their failure to run services on the line, as well as the
Coventry–Leamington line, until at least the end of January 2022. This followed their failure in early 2021 to maintain a service. ==Future proposals==