London Northwestern Railway will introduce a direct hourly service between Birmingham New Street and Manchester Airport from May 2027, creating the first direct rail link from the West Midlands to the airport in decades. The route will begin in phases, with Birmingham-Crewe trains due to start on 13 December 2026 before the extension to Manchester Airport follows in May 2027.
The service will call at stations across the West Midlands and North West, including Tame Bridge Parkway, Darlaston, Willenhall, Wolverhampton, Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent, Crewe, Sandbach, Holmes Chapel, Wilmslow and Styal. The airport extension is intended to reduce the need for passengers to change trains at Crewe, Wilmslow or Manchester city centre.
The new link improves surface access to one of the UK’s main airports and adds a direct option for travellers from Birmingham, the Black Country, Staffordshire and Cheshire. LNR’s phased approach is designed to establish the core Birmingham-Crewe corridor first, before extending services to Manchester Airport and adding the final intermediate stations on the airport leg.