News story

Thousands more seats for London Midland passengers

New trains to bring more seats and services to passengers travelling between London and the West Midlands.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government
Claire Perry with London Midland train.

Commuters travelling between London and the West Midlands will benefit from more seats, more services and new trains from Sunday 14 December 2014 thanks to £62 million of government investment.

Rail Minister Claire Perry visited London Euston today (9 December 2014) to officially mark the roll-out of 10 new 4-car trains for the London Midland network, as part of its new timetable.

The new trains will provide 139,000 additional seats for London Midland’s passengers every week, as well as:

  • faster services between Northampton, Milton Keynes and London
  • more direct trains between Birmingham, Coventry, Rugby, and London
  • more fast trains between Crewe and London
  • more frequent services between Redditch and Birmingham

Speaking at the launch, Rail Minister Claire Perry said:

We are absolutely committed to building a world-class rail network that provides more seats, more services and better journeys. I am delighted that London Midland’s passengers across the network are seeing the benefit of our investment.

This is just one way in which we’re transforming the rail network. Over the next 5 years, more than £38 billion will be spent on improving and maintaining our railways, providing improved journeys for passengers across the UK.

The new trains will provide an extra 139,000 seats every week, including 64,000 more seats in and out of London Euston, and 75,000 extra seats in and out of Birmingham New Street.

London Midland managing director Patrick Verwer said:

With more people travelling with us each year our passengers are telling us they want more services, quicker journeys and more seats. We have listened and taken the opportunity with our new trains to make as many improvements for as many passengers as we can. With £62 million invested in new trains, this is the biggest change to our timetable in 6 years.

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Published 9 December 2014