£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

  • Mobile transport information across the Finnish–Russian border
    April 16, 2014
    The smart transport corridor between Helsinki in Finland and St Petersburg in Russia will bring new services for passengers, car drivers and public transport. Development of the Vedia multi-service concept, led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Vediafi, unites newly opened mobile services that will result in smoother passenger traffic across the Finnish–Russian border and enhance passenger experience and traffic safety. Vedia multi-service is a key element of the Finnish–Russian intelligent
    Read More
  • Federal Railroad Administration invests in rail safety
    April 17, 2015
    The US Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded eight grants totalling more than US$21.2 million to invest in highway-rail grade crossing safety, positive train control (PTC) implementation and passenger rail. The eight grants were awarded in states across the country and feature a wide array of projects, including: Grade crossing safety and passenger rail planning grants to California department of Transportation and Illinois Department of Transportation; Transportation Technology Center PTC
    Read More
  • London’s strategy to tackle air quality problems
    October 21, 2014
    Colin Sowman talks to Matthew Pencharz, the man charged with charting London’s path between catering for traveller needs, conserving ancient buildings and conforming to modern air quality standards.
    Read More
  • Drivers with up to 42 points still on the road
    September 5, 2013
    New figures from the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) have revealed that motorists with up to 42 penalty points on their licence are still driving on Britain’s roads. Drivers can be banned from the road if they accumulate 12 points on their licence over a three-year period, but there are 8,000 drivers still getting behind the wheel despite having reached or exceeded that number.
    Read More

Highlighted Content