Getting about
Getting about
Centrally located within the UK, it’s easy to get about by road, rail, foot or bike within Coventry & Warwickshire, as well as further afield – for business or on holiday,
short or long haul.
Road
Being centrally located means that Coventry & Warwickshire is linked to all of the main road networks, enabling the ability to travel North, East, South and West from the region.
Travelling within the region is easy too. The A46 links Coventry with the Warwickshire towns of Kenilworth, Leamington, Warwick and Stratford Upon Avon. The A444 provides an effective link from Coventry to North Warwickshire, the A5 and M6.
Rail
Passenger
Coventry benefits from an efficient and direct rail service. London Euston is accessible in 60 minutes whilst Birmingham New Street station offers more direct connections than any other station in the UK, accessible from Coventry in just 20 minutes. Avanti West Coast operate high-speed Pendolino services from Coventry to London Euston.
Warwick Parkway, Warwick and Leamington Spa stations are served by the Chiltern Line and offer an alternative and cost effective route into London Marylebone station in one hour.
Nuneaton and Rugby stations are both served by the Avanti West Coast. Rugby station is currently being redeveloped under the West Coast Mainline Modernisation plan.
Local services in the area are mainly provided by West Midlands Railway, offering connections throughout both the West Midlands and towards London.
Freight
Coventry & Warwickshire benefits from the proximity of no less than three rail freight hubs.
BIFT (Birmingham Intermodal Freight Terminal) located at Birch Coppice, North Warwickshire is operated by Maritime. It operates 24/7 from a 35 acre terminal with capacity to hold 3,000 containers and gantry cranes able to lift 25 containers per hour.
BIFT now receives seven freight trains daily from the UK ports of Felixstowe, Southampton, Tilbury and Thamesport from rail operators DB Schenker Rail, Freightliner and GBRf.
ABP (Associated British Ports) owns and operates Hams Hall, one of the country’s busiest inland rail freight terminal handling in the region of 120,000 TEUs each year.
Located eight miles (13km) outside Birmingham at the town of Coleshill, the 11ha Hams Hall Rail Freight Terminal is situated adjacent to the Nuneaton-to-Birmingham railway line and handles deep-sea and short-sea traffic to and from ports such as Southampton, Tilbury, and Felixstowe, as well as traffic via the Channel Tunnel and domestic traffic from Scotland.
Located a short distance from Rugby, DIRFT (Daventry International Railfreight Terminal) is operated by Malcolm Rail in partnership with ProLogis who have invested jointly in the DIRFT rail operation.
DIRFT is a 24/7 location and currently handles over 100 train services per week, for major freight operating companies such as DB Cargo, Direct Rail Services, and Freightliner. Current container lifting volumes are around 130,000 units per annum, handled by a modern fleet of reachstackers.
Air travel
Coventry Airport is part of Regional & City Airports, one of the leading owners and operators of regional airports in the UK, Coventry Airport is a dedicated general and private aviation airfield – part of RCA’s vision to support smaller regional airports and airfields to prosper through effective management and collaboration, enabling them to benefit from the economies of scale and sharing of best practice traditionally enjoyed by larger hub airports.
Birmingham Airport is 20 minutes or less by rail or road and currently serves more than 150 direct scheduled and charter routes and offers an additional 340 possible connections worldwide with 50 different airlines. This gives passengers a choice of over 450 direct or one-stop flights. The primary airport serving Coventry and offering daily flights to all European capitals, as well as services to the USA, the Far East, Middle East, Africa and Australia.
Wellesbourne Mountford Airfield Wellesbourne Airfield has two active asphalt runways, the longest of which is 4000ft (1200m) long, and 70 aircraft based there.
East Midlands Airport is less than 40 miles from Warwickshire and connects over 4.2 million passengers with the world, serving more than 90 destinations, as well as being the UK’s busiest pure cargo airport.
Heathrow Airport is 95 miles away and is easily reached by road and only just over 2 hours by train. It has app 72.3 million passengers per year.
Manchester Airport is approximately 97 miles away and 1 hour 45 minutes by car. It is the international gateway for the North of England and the UK’s largest regional airport handling 22 million passengers a year. More than 100 airlines offer direct flights from Manchester to 225 destinations worldwide, more than any other UK airport.
