Strike misery rail firm loses its Midlands contract

THE train firm behind chaos on the South- ern network has lost its contract to run services to and across the West Midlands.

Go Ahead has run the franchise for ten years but lost its bid to renew the contract to a Dutch and Japanese consortium set to invest £1billion.

Last year Go Ahead survived calls to be stripped of the Southern franchise due to huge disruption amid a row with unions over plans for drivers to operate doors.

The firm said it was disappointed to lose the West Midlands deal, which it ran with partner Keolis under the name Govia.

The franchise will be taken over by Abellio, East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui and Co in December.

Under the new operators, the Depart- ment for Transport promised space for an extra 85,000 passengers on rush-hour services in Birmingham and London.

Longer trains will provide extra seats and space, the department added, and passengers will also get free wifi on all mainline services by the end of 2019.

The RMT union demanded a meeting with the consortium, saying it will ‘fight any moves to de-staff trains and stations’.