Passengers fume over rail chaos
Hundreds of last-minute train cancellations leave commuters stranded
FURIOUS rail users have demanded action over the poor performance of West Midlands Railway – with hundreds of trains cancelled a week, often at the last minute, leaving commuters and shoppers stranded.
A strongly worded letter written by four rail user groups representing hundreds of thousands of passengers voices anger at the failings of the company, whose contract to operate regional services runs until 2026.
The wave of cancellations and unreliable services has reignited preCovid concerns about the ability of West Midlands Railway to run services in and out of the second city.
At one point in late 2019 the company was threatened with being stripped of its franchise and faced fines totalling millions of pounds because of its woeful performance.
It comes at a time when Birmingham City Council is in the midst of a long term offensive aimed at motorists, with its Transport Plan reliant on persuading them to ditch their cars and take the train, tram, bus or bike to save the environment.
Complaints about the service’s performance have soared after nearly a quarter of trains using the Snow Hill line between Worcester and Birmingham were axed in a single week, often at the last minute, said rail users. The train company blames a shortage of drivers, linked to having to pause training during the Covid crisis.
West Midlands mayor Andy Street met with the company and demanded answers. He has asked West Midlands Trains to provide a clear action plan to address the issues.
Birmingham City Council leader Ian Ward, who also holds the transport brief for West Midlands Combined Authority, says pressure must be brought to bear to reassure passengers.
Facebook groups are loaded with frustrated comments from passengers, with one regular passenger calling it the worst service in years.
Mitchell Corfield, in a group for users of the service into Snow Hill, wrote: “The service is just horrendous at the moment. I’ve used it daily for almost 10 years and it’s the worst it’s ever been over a long period of time.”
In an unprecedented joint letter to the West Midlands Rail Executive – the body that oversees regional services – the users of the Stourbridge, Solihull & Leamington Spa, Cotswold and Shakespeare lines have demanded immediate action to ensure the misery for passengers does not continue into Christmas and beyond.
They wrote: “The daily situation faced by rail passengers trying to use train services provided by West Midlands Trains (WMT) (also known as West Midlands Railway) is unacceptable.
“People’s ability to attend work, hospital or medical appointments, visit relatives, shop or go about their normal day to day business is being
seriously impaired by a scale of unreliability that has made using the train in the West Midlands untenable for so many.”
They say ‘persistent’ lack of reliability means passengers are unable to rely on the train, with some left stranded late at night.
The provision of alternative transport is ‘haphazard’ and customer assistance is largely non-existent.
In a single week, from October 18 to 24, nearly a quarter of the 798 train services on the Snow Hill lines were fully or partly cancelled.
Often passengers are only notified late.
The failings are also “undermining the local economy...the efforts of local employers and retailers ‘impaired and undermined by such an erratic train service.”
An audit of local train service cancellations
for a single day – Tuesday, October 26 – showed that West Midlands Trains axed 63 services, while there were just two for all the other operators combined.
Further afield, Bristol trains services saw six cancellations that day, despite having the highest Covid rates in the country.
The group say more cancellations and unreliability in the run-up to Christmas could seriously impact retailers.
They are calling for the train company to ensure the timetable reflects the situation properly, possibly with reduced services that can be staffed preferable to the current “intolerable and indefensible” uncertain service for passengers.
They add: “We very much want our railways to succeed; it’s why we exist, to help improve train services and work with stakeholders to attract more patronage to the railways, and we do so willingly and voluntarily.
“We have respectfully and happily spoken up for the railways and its stakeholders on countless occasions .... a united and joint representation such as this is unprecedented, and that’s because the situation that passengers are facing daily is intolerable and the impact upon their lives unacceptable.”
The letter is signed by the rail user groups chairs Martin Lambert, John Ellis, Peter Morris and William Whiting.
Councillor Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “Like other forms of public transport, trains will play an increasingly important role as we move towards a cleaner, greener and less-congested future for our city.”