Press release -
Rail disruption: West Midlands Trains statement
Francis Thomas, head of corporate affairs at West Midlands Trains, said:
"We wholeheartedly apologise to our passengers who have been caught up in disruption this week and whose journeys have not been as good as they should have been.
"The timetable we introduced in May 2019 did bring many benefits and has allowed us to carry 150,000 more passengers across our network.
"Unfortunately the timetable also brought in a layer of complexity. This has meant that when something goes wrong on the network, the knock-on effects are more significant and the disruption caused is greater than it would previously have been. This is what has been happening this week.
"We fully acknowledge this timetable is not working as it should be. We are taking steps to fix it as quickly as we can by reducing this level of complexity at the next timetable change in December.
"Some of this week's problems have been caused by shortage of available train crew and we are doing all we can to mitigate this. We have been deploying driver managers and managers with conductor competency to cover gaps wherever possible and we are continuing to work on solutions.
"We are working extremely hard to improve our current performance but while this process continues we offer our sincere apologies to passengers who have experienced issues with their journeys."
Any passenger whose journey has been delayed by more than 15 minutes is urged to claim compensation via our Delay Repay scheme at wmr.uk/delayrepay (West Midlands Railway) or lnr.uk/delayrepay (London Northwestern Railway)
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About West Midlands Trains
For further information on this release, call our press office on 03300 955150 or email press.office@wmtrains.co.uk
West Midlands Trains operates both West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway services.
- London Northwestern Railway services operate between Liverpool and Birmingham, and on the West Coast mainline to and from London Euston.
- West Midlands Railway services operate to destinations across the West Midlands via Birmingham New Street.
For more information on these services visit westmidlandsrailway.co.uk or londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk
The West Midlands Trains franchise started on 10 December 2017 and will run until 2025/26.
West Midlands Trains operates 1,300 services a day, manages 150 stations and provides over 70 million passenger journeys a year. Over the course of the franchise, West Midlands Trains will be investing £1 billion into the rail network to deliver new trains, improved routes and station upgrades. This will include 400 new train carriages across the network and space for an extra 85,000 passengers into Birmingham and London at peak times.
The franchise is a joint venture between Abellio (70.1% share) and East Japan Railway Company / Mitsui & Co., Ltd (29.9% share in a 50:50 split). Abellio is the international passenger transport subsidiary of the Dutch national railway company, Nederlandse Spoorwegen. In the UK, Abelllio operates ScotRail and Greater Anglia train services, Merseyrail services in a joint venture with Serco and buses through Abellio London. For more information visit www.abellio.com
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