London Midland.html

For the former British Railways region, see London Midland Region (British Railways).



Franchise(s):	West Midlands 11 November 2007 – 19 September 2015
Main region(s):	West Midlands, London
Other region(s):	West of England, East Midlands
Fleet size:	157 (soon to be 191)^{citation needed}
Stations called at:	146 ¹
National Rail abbreviation:	LM
Parent company:	Govia (Go-Ahead Group / Keolis)
Web site:	www.londonmidland.co.uk

A map of the London Midland Network

London Midland Express route map

London Midland City route map

London Midland is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Legally named London and Birmingham Railway Ltd. ², it is a subsidiary of Govia, and has operated the West Midlands Franchise since 11 November 2007.

Their services operate primarily on the West Coast Main Line from London Euston and in the West Midlands region, replacing previous operators Central Trains and Silverlink (both subsidiaries of the National Express Group).

1 Routes
2 New services from December 2008
3 Performance
4 Rolling stock
- 4.1 Current fleet
- 4.2 Future fleet
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Routes

London Midland's services are divided between two sub-brands³, London Midland Express and London Midland City.

London Midland Express

This sub-brand is used primarily for semi-fast services on the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

Birmingham New Street – Liverpool Lime Street (plus one service a day to Preston) – the former Central Citylink service.
London Euston - Northampton - Birmingham New Street – the former Silverlink County route (although latterly the services between Northampton and Birmingham had been run jointly with Central Trains).
London Euston - Crewe – a new semi-fast service, which will replace current Virgin Trains services from December 2008. This will coincide with the number of Virgin Trains services calling at stations on the Trent Valley Line (and other parts of the WCML) being reduced.^{citation needed}
London Euston – Liverpool Lime Street – one direct service per day.

The brand is also used for two former Silverlink services on branches off the WCML, namely the Marston Vale Line (from Bletchley to Bedford) and the St Albans Branch Line (from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey). It is a requirement of the franchise that Transport for London's Oyster Cards can be used on trains between London and Watford Junction. In the past, TfL have expressed interest in taking over the St Albans branch, and installing Oyster Card readers on the stations along it;⁴ however this route was included within the London Midland franchise.

London Midland City

This sub-brand is used for local and commuter services around the Birmingham / Coventry Area, sponsored by Centro/ Network West Midlands, that were previously run by Central Trains. These services are:

Birmingham New Street – Northampton
Birmingham New Street – Wolverhampton
Lichfield – Birmingham New Street - Redditch (the Cross-City Line)
Birmingham New Street - Walsall - Stafford (the Chase Line)
Birmingham International - Walsall
Birmingham New Street – Shrewsbury
Birmingham New Street – Hereford via Bromsgrove
Worcester - Birmingham Snow Hill – Leamington Spa / Stratford-upon-Avon (the Snow Hill Lines)
Stourbridge Junction – Stourbridge Town (the Stourbridge Branch Line)
Coventry – Nuneaton
Walsall - Wolverhampton

Smaller stations

London Midland operate several "limited stop" stations, where only a handful of trains a day stop:

These include ⁵:

Hartlebury; six trains a day Monday-Saturday, peak only, no Sunday service.
Bordesley, one train per week on a saturday (a parliamentary train),plus football specials.

New services from December 2008

The company's expanded Desiro fleet will deliver the enhancements

From December, the completion of the West Coast Mainline upgrade and the Trent Valley upgrading will deliver the following enhancements to London Midland services (in addition to the Virgin Trains enhancements):⁶

New hourly service London-Northampton-Rugby-Nuneaton-Stafford-Stoke-Crewe;
New hourly service Worcester to Gloucester
Full half hourly service between Liverpool and Birmingham;
Direct services between London Euston and Birmingham via Northampton;
Half hourly service Birmingham-Northampton;
Faster timings for services between Northampton and London Euston;
Faster timings for services on the Coventry-Wolverhampton and the Birmingham-Walsall-Rugeley route.

These services will utilise the new expanded fleet of Desiro trains that are to be delivered soon.

However, the withdrawal of the well used Walsall to Wolverhampton service is to go ahead, despite opposition and campaigns.

Performance

The most recent performance figures for London Midland to be released by the ORR for the first quarter of the financial year 2008/9 are 89.2% Public Performance Measure.⁷

Rolling stock

London Midland plan to replace the region’s older trains, including the Class 150 units that operate the Snow Hill and Bedford-Bletchley lines

Class 139 to be used on the Stourbridge Branch Line

Current fleet

London Midland’s fleet is currently composed of rolling stock inherited from Silverlink and Central Trains. They plan to improve the reliability and interior design the existing Class 153 and Class 170 trains, and install passenger information systems and CCTV on the majority of the fleet. They also intend to use automatic load-monitoring systems to measure how heavily their services are used, for the purpose of alleviating over-crowding.

The first of London Midland's Class 153 Sprinters (153 365) has gone to the Eastleigh Wabtec works for an overhaul and a repaint. ⁸

As of 12 November 2007 there are already several units operating in the new livery and re-furbished green interior, but all of the Class 150 "Sprinter" units still carry their original liveries, albeit without Central Trains branding. It appears that London Midland have no plans to re-brand the Sprinter fleet, only to remove the logo of their predecessor.^{citation needed}

Class	Image	Type	Cars per set	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
Class	Image	Type	Cars per set	mph	km/h	Number	Routes operated	Built
Class 08		diesel locomotive		15	24	2	Shunting	1953
Class 150/0 Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	3	75	120	2	Snow Hill Lines	1981-83
Class 150/1 Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	2/3	75	120	14 3 car 10 2 car	Snow Hill Lines Bedford - Bletchley	1982-84
Class 150/2 Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	2	75	120	2	Snow Hill Lines	1984-86
Class 153 Super Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	1	75	120	10	Stourbridge Branch Line Bedford - Bletchley Coventry - Nuneaton Strengthening of any 150 services	1987 - 1988
Class 170 Turbostar		diesel multiple unit	2/3	100	160	17 2 car 6 3 car	Hereford - Birmingham Birmingham - Shrewsbury Birmingham to Stafford via Chase line	1999 – 2002
Class 321/4		electric multiple unit	4	100	160	37	Birmingham - Northampton Birmingham International - Walsall London - Milton Keynes /Northampton	1988-89
Class 323		electric multiple unit	3	90	145	26	Lichfield - Redditch (The Cross City Line) Walsall - Birmingham International Wolverhampton - Birmingham	1989-91
Class 350/1 Desiro		electric multiple unit	4	100	160	30	Liverpool - Birmingham Northampton - Birmingham London - Birmingham/Crewe	2004 - 2005

Future fleet

As part of its franchise agreement, London Midland is committed to a major programme of new rolling stock. In its initial plan, it announced that it would bring into service an additional 37 Class 350 units from Siemens which it plans to use in replacing its Class 321s. After beginning its operations, London Midland announced two further orders, with fifteen 3-car and twelve 2-car Class 172 Turbostar units ordered from Bombardier Transportation, together with a pair of Class 139 railcars from Parry People Movers for use on the Stourbridge line.⁹¹⁰ When the two Class 139's enter service on the Stourbridge town line, the current Class 153 will be moved to the Bedford - Bletchley line. These will replace Class 150s on this route; the remainder of London Midland's Class 150s will be replaced like for like by the Class 172s. Under the government's rolling stock plan, the Class 150s will be cascaded to other TOC's.

The first of the 37 new Desrio units arrived in the UK in early October for testing at the Siemens Northampton depot¹¹. London Midland expect to have 10 vehicles in operation by December 2008.

As part of the Department for Transport's rolling stock plan, published in January 2008, the current fleet of 17 Class 323s currently operated by Northern will be transferred to London Midland in order to form a uniform fleet with 24 new units being ordered for Northern. ¹².

Class	Type	Cars per set	Number	Introduced	Notes
Class 139	railcar diesel multiple unit	1	2	2008	Will replace the existing Class 153 DMU on the Stourbridge Town line by the end of 2008¹³
Class 172/2 Turbostar	diesel multiple unit	2	12	2010	Will replace the existing Class 150¹⁴
Class 172/3 Turbostar	diesel multiple unit	3	15	2010	Will replace the existing Class 150¹⁵
Class 323	electric multiple unit	3	17		Transferred from Northern
Class 350/2 Desiro	electric multiple unit	4	37	2008	Will replace Class 321

References

^ London Midland Website Accessed 12 September 2007
^ WebCHeck - Select and Access Company Information
^ London Midland Plans: Sub-brands 25 October 2007
^ alwaystouchout.com - London Rail Authority
^ London Midland's route map and timetables
^ London Midland News
^ ORR statistics
^ Today's Railways Issue 81
^ "Twenty seven new trains for London Midland". London Midland (12 December 2007).
^ "Parry People Movers for Stourbridge branch line". London Midland (13 December 2007).
^ "Siemens unveils Desiros for London Midland" (in English), RAIL Magazine, issue 603 (October 2008).
^ DfT rolling stock plan January 2008 - Indicative Number of Additional Vehicles required by English TOCs by 2014
^ "Parry People Movers railcars selected for West Midlands branch line". Parry People Movers (21 June 2007).
^ "Govia picked to run West Midlands franchise". Railnews (21 June 2007).
^ "Govia picked to run West Midlands franchise". Railnews (21 June 2007).

External links

Preceded by Central Trains Central franchise	Operator of West Midlands franchise 2007 - present	Incumbent
Preceded by Silverlink North London Railways franchise

v • d • e Current train operating companies in the United Kingdom

◄ Defunct • Future ►

National:	Arriva Trains Wales · c2c · Chiltern Railways · CrossCountry · East Midlands Trains · First Capital Connect · First Great Western · First Hull Trains · First ScotRail · First TransPennine Express · Grand Central · Heathrow Connect · Heathrow Express · London Midland · London Overground · Merseyrail · National Express East Anglia · National Express East Coast · Northern Ireland Railways¹ · Northern Rail · Southeastern · Southern · South West Trains · Virgin Trains · Wrexham & Shropshire

International:	Enterprise¹ · Eurostar

Sub-brands:	Caledonian Sleeper · Gatwick Express · Island Line Trains · Night Riviera · Stansted Express

1 Operates on the Irish railway network

v • d • e Go-Ahead Group

United Kingdom bus companies:	Blue Triangle · Brighton & Hove · Damory Coaches · Docklands Buses · Go North East · London Central · London General · Marchwood Motorways · Metrobus · Oxford Bus Company · Solent Blue Line (Bluestar, Uni-link) · Southern Vectis · Tourist Group · Wilts & Dorset

UK railway companies (Govia):	London Midland · Southeastern · Southern (including Gatwick Express)

Other operations:	Aviance UK · Meteor Parking

Defunct companies:	Thames Trains · Thameslink

Annual revenue: £1027.9m GBP (2007) · Employees: Unknown at this time. · Stock symbol: LSE: GOG · Website: www.go-ahead.com