West Midlands Rail Executive

WMRE is a group of 14 local transport authorities plus the West Midlands Combined Authority. The West Midlands mayor is the executive’s chairman.

It stretches into Staffordshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and West Northamptonshire. Cheshire East and Stoke-on-Trent sit as affiliate members.

Alongside the Department for Transport, it specifies and manages the contract for local rail services, delivered by West Midlands Railway. It groups services into seven corridors for investment purposes. They are:

■ Cross City North. From Birmingham to Wolverhampton, Rugeley Trent Valley and Lichfield Trent Valley via Aston, and local services on the West Coast Main Line between Rugby and Crewe.

■ Water Orton. From Birmingham to Burton-on-Trent and Leicester.

■ Coventry. From Coventry to Birmingham, Nuneaton, Northampton and Leamington Spa.

■ Leamington. From Leamington to New Street and Stratford-uponAvon as well as Stratford-New Street via Shirley.

■ Cross City South. From Birmingham to Redditch and Hereford via Droitwich Spa and Worcestershire Parkway.

■ Stourbridge. From Birmingham to Stourbridge, Worcester Foregate Street and Shrub Hill.

■ Wolverhampton. From Birmingham to Shrewsbury and Crewe via Penkridge.

WMRE covers an area with a population of 6.5 million and an economy worth £128 billion per year, with 3.2 million jobs. The executive expects the economy to grow by 14% by 2032, with 900,000 more people and 450,000 new jobs.

In turn, this triggers a need for more housing and more transport. WMRE expects the region to need an extra 1.2 million trips per day by 2030, when average weekday peak road traffic speeds are barely 18mph today.

For now, rail passenger numbers are recovering, but sit below UK figures as a whole.

WMRE notes a shift away from traditional commuting towards leisure trips, as people shift to more flexible working.

It also notes that some people are choosing to live further from their workplace and commute less often.