£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.”

Related Content

  • January 3, 2013
    UK railways to benefit from information upgrade
    More than US$13.44 million funding will be spent by train companies to boost passenger information at stations across the UK. The funding will pay for a national roll-out to link customer information screens at stations to the latest live real time train information data, fed from a database developed and maintained by train companies. The upgrade will be rolled out in around 2,000 National Rail stations. The first stations will be switched on in summer 2014 and the whole project is anticipated to be comp
    Read More
  • October 12, 2016
    City of Gothenburg awards tram order to Bombardier
    Rail technology supplier Bombardier Transportation and consortium partner Vossloh Kiepe, has been awarded a contract for the supply of 40 Flexity low-floor trams to the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. The contract is valued at approximately US$156 million (€140 million), with an option for up to 60 additional trams. The new trams have been adapted for the city's existing light rail infrastructure and environmental and climate conditions. The vehicles are also equipped with a Vossloh Kiepe propulsion system a
    Read More
  • December 21, 2015
    Bombardier success in Germany and China
    Bombardier Transportation is to supply an additional 47 Bombardier Flexity trams to Berlin’s transport operator Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) as part of a framework agreement for a maximum of 206 vehicles signed in 2006. The Flexity Berlin concept was jointly developed by BVG and Bombardier Transportation, which they say has resulted in a 100 and barrier-free, leading edge tram providing easy access which is highly popular in Berlin and has already received several design awards.
    Read More
  • April 16, 2014
    UK’s latest smart motorway goes live on M6
    The Midlands got a boost today with the launch of the latest stretch of smart motorway, making greater use of technology on the M6 near Birmingham, bringing improved journeys and less congestion. Opening the hard shoulder to traffic during the busiest times between junctions 5 and 8 on the M6 will improve journey times, especially around Birmingham and marks a milestone for the Highways Agency, after several years of investment in this section of the M6. This ten mile stretch means the benefits can now b
    Read More

Highlighted Content