West Midlands
Abellio leads a Joint Venture in West Midlands franchise win, with 405 new vehicles promised.
■ The new franchise will deliver 180 new vehicles to the West Midlands, with 100 electric vehicles for Birmingham’s Cross-City line and 80 diesel vehicles for the Snow Hill line.
■ The former will have metrostyle interiors and offer a metro service with more space for more passengers. Wider doors will be fitted for quicker access.
■ More trains will run between Birmingham and Shrewsbury, with two trains per hour from December 2018.
■ Two trains per hour will run between Birmingham and Rugeley via the Chase Line from December next year, when a new direct hourly service between Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent will be introduced.
■ Cross-City line trains from Longbridge will extended to Bromsgrove, and a new hourly shuttle between Leamington Spa and Coventry will serve the new station at Kenilworth.
■ Two morning and two evening rush hour direct services will be introduced between Walsall and London from December 2018.
■ There will be more Sunday services on the Cross-City line, with the number of trains per hour between Longbridge and Birmingham doubling from two per hour to four in December 2018, and then six in May 2021.
■ Sunday services on the Snow Hill line will rise from two to six between Snow Hill and Stourbridge Junction, while a new Sunday service between Birmingham and Shrewsbury will start in December 2018, with a second train per hour introduced in May 2021.
■ On London services, 225 new electric carriages will be introduced, with other vehicles refurbished with charge points on all trains by May 2021.
■ Smart ticketing will be introduced between Northampton and London for the first time, as well as on the St Albans AbbeyWatford Junction route.
■ An hourly Sunday service will be introduced on the Bedford-Bletchley line for the first time from May 2021. Modern trains will also be introduced on the Abbey Line.
■ Up to four trains an hour will run between Euston and Milton Keynes by May 2021.
■ New trains from the West Midlands will serve the WM franchise’s route to the North West, while there will be a later last train from Liverpool to Birmingham on a Saturday, departing at least 45 minutes later.
■ On a Sunday, there will be two trains an hour between Birmingham and Liverpool from December 2021, while from May 2021 there will be a Sunday service at Acton Bridge.