From Sunday (10/12), Train services operating within our region will now be jointly managed by the Department for Transport and the West Midlands Rail consortium.
The Rail consortium consists of 16 local authorities including Birmingham City Council, Staffordshire County Council and Warwickshire County Council.
Taking over from London Midland the new West Midlands Railway franchise will give local people and businesses the rail service they deserve. A train service that’s more responsive to what people in our region actually need.
Over the next nine years a whopping £1 billion will be pumped into the region’s network, providing more trains (late night and off-peak ones), more seats, better stations, extra facilities and more affordable travel.
And everything will be carefully planned to connect better with the rest of the bus and tram network.
A railway for everyone
The new franchise will serve the hard-working people of the West Midlands at work, at play, every single day.
The region is thriving and the new service will help the region continue to grow and prosper.
Key highlights:
- £700 million spent on new trains and sprucing up older ones
- 108 new carriages on the Cross City Line (between Lichfield and Longbridge with the route extended to Bromsgrove)
- Another 80 carriages for the ever-popular Snow Hill Line
- Standing room for 50,000 extra passengers travelling to and from Birmingham in ‘metro-style’ carriages (basically, more space and wider doors)
- An overcrowding-busting 20,000 extra seats on rush hour services in Birmingham.
- Compensation if the train is delayed by more than 15 minutes
- Free Wi-Fi on all trains by 2019
- Improved access for disabled passengers.
And much much more…
There are so many other improvements to look forward to, including smart ticketing, smarter stations, better platform facilities, as well as more car and cycle parking spaces. Visit www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk to find out more.
