A more connected region for travel is hard to imagine. At the heart of the country's road and rail network, the region is just half a day away or less for three quarters of the UK's people, and only 90 minutes away from London by rail.
Whether you need to move around the region, travel to it or set off for another destination, you will find the Heart of England is one of the best-connected regions in the UK.
The Heart of England's travel network
It’s not too far from the truth to say that all roads lead to the Heart of England. No other region of the UK is so well connected – close to the M5, M42, M6 and M6 Toll motorways and with fast and easy access to the M1, M40, M54 and M69. National Express coach services go to 1,000 destinations, including London Heathrow and Gatwick airports and London Victoria bus station.
Average drive times from Birmingham to UK ports/airports:
| Location | Drive Time | Distance |
| Dover | 3 hours 30 minutes | 204 miles/328 km |
| Felixstowe | 3 hours 15 minutes | 165 miles/266 km |
| Hull | 2 hours 30 minutes | 138 miles/222 km |
| Liverpool | 1 hour 50 minutes | 98 miles/157 km |
| London Heathrow Airport | 2 hours 10 minutes | 106 miles/171 km |
| Manchester Airport | 1 hour 35 minutes | 80 miles/129 km |
| Tilbury | 2 hours 35 minutes | 143 miles/231 km |
(Source - AA)
Travel times from Birmingham City Centre
| City | Road | Rail (fastest times) | Distance |
| Birmingham Airport | 21 minutes | 8 minutes | 10 miles/16 km |
| Bristol | 1 hour 35 minutes | 1 hour 26 minutes | 87 miles/140 km |
| Cardiff | 2 hours 15 minutes | 2 hours | 111 miles/178 km |
| Edinburgh | 5 hours 10 minutes | 4 hours 2 minutes | 292 miles/471 km |
| Glasgow | 4 hours 55 minutes | 3 hours 57 minutes | 290 miles/467 km |
| Leeds | 2 hours 10 minutes | 1 hour 59 minutes | 118 miles/190 km |
| London | 2 hours 30 minutes | 1 hour 12 minutes | 119 miles/191 km |
| Manchester | 1 hour 50 minutes | 1 hour 29 minutes | 87 miles/150 km |
| Newcastle-upon-Tyne | 4 hours 10 minutes | 3 hours 10 minutes | 207 miles/334 km |
| Nottingham | 1 hour 10 minutes | 1 hour 16 minutes | 51 miles/82 km |
| Plymouth | 3 hours 35 minutes | 3 hours 36 minutes | 205 miles/331 km |
| Sheffield | 1 hour 45 minutes | 1 hour 14 minutes | 90 miles/145 km |
| Southampton | 2 hours 40 minutes | 2 hours 36 minutes | 134 miles/215 km |
(Source - AA and Network Rail)
We’re also well connected by rail – at the heart of the UK's train network – Birmingham's New Street Station is the UK's main national rail interchange, serving over 31 million people every year. There is a train every 30 minutes from Birmingham to London, taking just 90 minutes. In addition to this Birmingham International station serves both Birmingham International Airport and the National Exhibition Centre. Trainins to London from here can take as little as 68 minutes, and the journey time to Birmingham New Street is just 10 minutes.
In addition to this we have the Midland Metro, 26 local rail lines and the West Coastline offering fast, convenient links from London to the north-west and Scotland, passing through Coventry, Birmingham International, Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton.from Wolverhampton.
Four international airports serve the region – Birmingham International Airport is the UK’s second largest airport outside London, the thrid largest for charter traffic, and the UK's sixth largest overall. The airport caters for 9.6 million passengers a year and offers more than 140 direct business and leisure routes, plus a further 280 one-stop global destinations.
Coventry Airport is a freight handling airport, ideally located close to the centre of the UK’s motorway network, providing connections to and from all areas of the country. There are three other international airports within 90 minutes: East Midlands, Manchester and Heathrow.
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