LNWR to introduce a direct Leamington to Birmingham service. The line came under the management of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923 and later British Railways in 1948. In the early 1960s, the line, along with the Leamington-Rugby line, was heavily used as a diversionary route while the West Coast Main Line was being electrified. However, the local passenger service was withdrawn on 18 January 1965, as a result of the Beeching Axe, and Kenilworth, Milverton and Avenue stations were closed. With Avenue station closed, a new connection was built the same year connecting the line to the former GWR Leamington station (previously only a siding had connected the former LNWR and GWR lines at Leamington). The Berkswell Loop was closed on 17 January 1969, after a freight train derailed, and the track was lifted the following year. In 1972, British Rail singled much of the line but retained some double track to form a passing loop at Kenilworth. In May 1977, British Rail resumed passenger services over the line; this was largely due to the opening of station between Birmingham and Coventry in 1976. This caused British Rail to re-route many of their Birmingham to , Paddington and south-coast trains via Coventry in order to serve the new station; however, none of the intermediate stations were reopened. In August 2007, Network Rail reinstated of double track at the northern end of the line from Park Junction (now removed) to Gibbet Hill Junction in order to increase capacity. Kenilworth station re-opening In 2013, funding was approved to rebuild and reopen Kenilworth railway station. The line was also scheduled to be re-doubled from Milverton Junction to Kenilworth and electrified as part of the Electric Spine project, although these plans were put on hold by Network Rail in 2016 and no date has since been given for completion of this work. Construction of the new station at Kenilworth began in July 2016. The opening date was originally meant to be August 2017, although this was repeatedly postponed. It finally opened on 30 April 2018. The new hourly service operated by West Midlands Trains was initially a shuttle between Leamington Spa and Coventry, calling at Kenilworth. Since May 2019, this service has been extended to . In December 2021 West Midlands Trains once again declared their failure to run services on the Coventry–Leamington line and the Coventry–Nuneaton line until at