£680 million investment for West Midlands Trains

A £680 million ($897million) order for new trains has been welcomed by West Midlands Rail (WMR), a consortium of 16 local councils set up to manage the regions rail services. The order, made up of 413 carriages, comes from West Midlands Trains (WMT) who will run local services on behalf of WMR and Department of Transport (D0T) from December onwards to help increase capacity and improve journey times. WMT will operate local services until March 2026.
October 19, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
A £680 million ($897million) order for new trains has been welcomed by West Midlands Rail (WMR), a consortium of 16 local councils set up to manage the regions rail services. The order, made up of 413 carriages, comes from West Midlands Trains (WMT) who will run local services on behalf of WMR and Department of Transport (D0T) from December onwards to help increase capacity and improve journey times. WMT will operate local services until March 2026.


WMT is made up of Abellio, JR East and Mitsui and the order is part of a near £1 billion ($1,319 million) investment into the franchise.

513 Bombardier Trains and Construcciones y Auxilar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) will manufacture 107 new trains for the next West Midlands franchise. CAF will also produce 80 diesel carriages to provide dedicated services for journeys to towns and cities around Birmingham.  

A total of 333 of the new trains will feature air conditioning, free Wi-Fi and in-seat power sockets provided as standard – produced by Bombardier in Derby.

Cllr Roger Lawrence, chair of WMR and transport lead on the West Midlands combined authority, said: "This is a very significant investment in new trains that will bring more space, more services and improved comfort for passengers.  

"We know a key issue for passengers is overcrowding at peak times so we are pleased that these new carriages will provide space for an extra 85,000 passengers on rush hour services into Birmingham and London.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Norway gets improved rail journey information thanks to HaCon
    January 16, 2014
    Norwegian State Railways NSB has awarded HaCon a contract for a new timetable information system. HaCon’s HAFAS journey planner integrates real time data to provide rail travellers with up to the minute information on potential delays, alternative routes and transport modes, actual seat occupation and wagon order. Passengers are able to access the information via the internet, mobile applications and message boards on the station and train. "Whether the railway traffic runs as planned or there are pl
    Read More
  • London's new Silvertown Tunnel set to open
    January 13, 2025
    TfL says average peak journey times expected to be 20 minutes quicker
    Read More
  • Electric buses: more billion dollar orders
    August 3, 2015
    China will spend up to one trillion dollars on electric buses over the coming 15 years according to analysts IDTechEx. This will reduce the impact of over 22.5 trillion dollars from air pollution over that time, at least one percent of GDP. More insurrection will occur if corrective action is insufficient because hundreds of thousands are dying from traffic pollution and far more are suffering resultant serious disease. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), outdoor air pollution caused 3.7 m
    Read More
  • Growing passenger numbers, fare rises for UK rail
    December 16, 2014
    According to Rail Travel, a new market report from business intelligence provider Key Note, in 2013/2014 the total value of passenger receipts for UK rail travel increased by 6.2 per cent year-on-year, and grew by 32.5 per cent over a five-year period. In addition, passenger journeys grew by 23.5 per cent over the five-year review period, with passenger kilometres travelled also growing by 17.9 per cent over the same timeframe. For the purpose of this report, the rail industry in the UK has been split in
    Read More

Highlighted Content