London Midland

New trains, new services and more seats from London Midland
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date 9 December 2014. 09.00
source London Midland
type Press release

London Midland’s new timetable will see new trains, new services and more seats being introduced across its network.

Ten extra four-car trains mean passengers will benefit from 139,000 additional seats every week. This includes 64,000 extra seats in and out of London Euston and 75,000 extra seats in and out of Birmingham New Street.

New timetables will be introduced across Britain’s railways on Sunday, December 14. London Midland passengers will see major improvements across the network. £62 million worth of new trains will significantly increase capacity and help the operator introduce new and faster services. Since 2007 the company has seen demand for its services grow by a third.

London commuters along the line between Euston and Northampton will benefit from a mixture of new trains, extra seats and or faster services. ‘Expressing’ some trains to Milton Keynes and Northampton will also take pressure of local services to stations including Watford, Hemel Hempstead, Tring and Leighton Buzzard as longer distance passengers will choose the faster options.

Each of these stations will see a substantial increase in seat availability ranging from 10,000 per week at Tring to 62,000 at Watford Junction.

In the West Midlands the Cross City line will see one of the biggest improvements with the Redditch to Birmingham service increasing from two to three trains per hour. The most frequent service in Redditch’s history. There will also be extra seats at stations along the line up to Lichfield.

Wolverhampton passengers will benefit from an extra 2,000 seats in the evening peak leaving Birmingham and there will be an extra 6,000 seats between New Street and Birmingham International.

London Midland is also increasing the number of services from Birmingham and Coventry to London. This means there will be an extra 18,000 seats on this route to and from the capital each week.

Rugby rail users will benefit from 20,000 extra seats to and from London with new trains and more fast services. There will also be an extra 30,000 seats to and from Birmingham.

Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent passengers will benefit from new trains with 3,000 extra seats to and from the capital each week. There will also be additional fast services on this route on Saturday mornings to meet the growing demand for leisure journeys.

Stafford gains an extra 4,000 seats to and from London each week along with new trains, extra services and faster journeys.

Passengers at Rugeley, Lichfield, Tamworth, Atherstone and Nuneaton all benefit from 2,000 additional seats with more fast services and new trains.

The new trains have been made possible following £62 million of government investment. 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 five years, more than £38bn will be spent on improving and maintaining our railways, providing improved journeys for passengers across the UK.”

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 six years.”

For more details on local services go to www.londonmidland.com/goodnews ENDS

Notes to Editors

Since October 2014 London Midland has been introducing a brand new fleet of Class 350/3 Desiro trains into service, thanks to £62 million investment. These 40 new carriages have first and standard class seating and plugs have been fitted throughout.

While the train company has been adding carriages to some services early, the new timetable allows London Midland to fully utilise its new 110mph fleet, making changes right across the network. This includes providing:


139,000 extra seats every week across our network
Fast departures between Northampton / Milton Keynes and London at peak times
More fast trains between Crewe and London
More direct trains between Birmingham New St / International / Coventry / Rugby / Northampton / London at peak times
Improved frequency between Redditch / Alvechurch / Barnt Green / Birmingham



How many extra seats from my local station into London?

We’ll London Midland will be providing a lot more seats every week, focussing on the busiest peak times Monday to Friday and at weekends in and out of London & Birmingham.

trains to / from
LONDON EUSTON every week every
weekend every weekday AM peak to London & PM peak from London London Euston 64,000 14,818 3,458 Northampton 36,000 13,960 3,210 Milton Keynes 43,000 15,218 3,090 Leighton Buzzard 23,000 10,780 140 Tring 10,000 10,000 - Hemel Hempstead 41,000 9,368 276 Watford Junction 62,000 29,843 660 (AM only) Birmingham New St 18,000 4,530 1,190 Rugby 20,000 4,830 1,570 Birmingham International, Coventry 18,000 4,260 1,190 Crewe 3,000 530 610 Stoke-on-Trent 3,000 530 650 Stafford 4,000 530 920 Rugeley TV, Lichfield TV, Tamworth, Nuneaton 2,000 530 380


Customers are very likely to migrate onto the new faster London Euston departures, so that stopper-trains calling at Watford Junction and Tring in the peak will be less busy than normal.

What extra services are there from my local station?

Northampton - weekdays


New,fast, non-stop morning trains to London (departing 0716, 0742)
Quicker and later fast evening trains from London (departing 1716, 1813 fast, 1849 fast, 1852)
New morning train to Birmingham (departing 0737)

Milton Keynes


New, fast weekday evening trains (non-stop) from London (departing 1713, 1746, 1813, 1849)
New, fast morning Saturday trains to London (departing 0805, 0925)

Leighton Buzzard - weekdays


Faster evening trains from London (departing 1713, 1816, 1749, 1852)

Rugby


More weekday morning trains to London (departing 0659, 0712)
Quicker and later weekday trains from London (departing 1746, 1849, 1852)
New fast Saturday morning trains to London (departing 0743, 0903)
New morning weekday train to Birmingham (departing 0759)
New evening weekday train to Birmingham (departing 1901)

Birmingham New Street, Birmingham International, Coventry - weekdays


More direct trains to London (arriving 0828, 0839, 2027, 2129)
More direct trains from London (departing 1724, 1816)

Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford, Lichfield TV, Tamworth, Atherstone, Nuneaton


Faster weekday evening trains from London (departing 1746, 1849,)
New fast morning Saturday arrivals into London (arriving 0840, 1000)

Cross City South: Redditch, Alvechurch, Barnt Green

Extra train an hour to & from Birmingham on weekdays (new frequency: every 20 minutes)


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Railhub Archive ::: 2014-12-09 LON-001