London Midland

London Midland statement on next West Midlands franchise
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date 10 August 2017
source London Midland
type Press release

London Midland - Aug 10, 2017 07:16 BST

New West Midlands train franchise

London Midland has congratulated the group that has won the right to operate the next West Midlands rail franchise. London Midland says a new long-term franchise means further investment can now be made in the region’s rail network.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced that West Midlands Trains Ltd (a joint venture between Abellio, East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui & Co Ltd) has won the contract to operate the next West Midlands rail franchise.

Commenting on the announcement, London Midland managing director, Patrick Verwer, said “The new franchise will bring much welcomed investment in new services and extra capacity across the network. We congratulate the consortium on winning the franchise. Over the coming months our focus will remain on delivering the best possible service to our passengers, each day and every day. This approach is already producing high levels of customer satisfaction.

"We have created a strong foundation for the new operators to build on. During the months ahead we will continue to work with West Midlands Trains Ltd, the DfT and all our stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition into the new franchise.”

London Midland has been operating train services from London to Liverpool and across the West Midlands since 2007. During the present franchise, over £400 million has been invested in improving the network with new trains and more stations. The company’s current contract began in April 2016 and was due to end in October 2017. During this time London Midland has invested £14 million in raising performance and introducing additional passenger benefits including world leading free on-train entertainment and Wi-Fi.

Since the start of 2017 London Midland has been named the country’s most improved train company by the Institute of Rail Operators and Britain’s most improved organisation for Customer Service by the UK Customer Service Institute. Investors in People has also upgraded the London Midland to Gold status, making the employer only the fourth train company to receive the top rating. The company has also won two Corporate Social Responsibility awards this year for its work with communities.

Ends

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Since 2007, London Midland has been providing train services to and from London in the south, to Birmingham in the Midlands and Liverpool in the north-west. Over 70 million passenger journeys a year are made using on the network and London Midland manages 150 stations and operates 1,300 services a day.

London Midland is owned by Govia, the partnership between the Go-Ahead Group and Keolis. Govia is the UK’s busiest rail operator, responsible for nearly 30 per cent of UK passenger rail journeys through its three rail companies, GTR (which includes Gatwick Express services), Southeastern and London Midland. Further information on Govia is available at www.govia.info

London Midland has won a range of awards, including Best Local Transport Integration, five Rail Business Awards for marketing, public relations and customer information, five Golden Spanner Awards for Engineering, three IOIC awards for internal communication and three Railstaff Awards for Outstanding Customer Service, Lifesaving and Charity Work. In 2017 London Midland was named as Britain's most improved train company by the Institute of Rail Operators and the UK's most improved organisation for customer service in the UKCSI survey.

In 2017 London Midland was awarded the Investors in People (IiP) Gold Award and been awarded the 5 Star award by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) in 2014.

For more information about London Midland please visit the London Midland website or the newsroom website.

Railhub Archive ::: 2017-08-10 LON-001