London Midland

Infobox Rail companies
bgcolor = 000000
franchise = West Midlands
11 November 2007 – 19 September 2015
logo_filename = Londonmidlandlogo.jpg
image_filename =London Midland Class 323.jpg
widthpx = 300px
nameforarea = region
regions = West Midlands, London
secregions = West of England, East Midlands
fleet = 157 (soon to be 191) Fact|date=July 2008
abbr=LM
stations = 146 [ [http://www.londonmidland.co.uk/doc/faqs.html London Midland Website] Accessed 12 September 2007]
parent_company = Govia (Go-Ahead Group / Keolis)
website = www.londonmidland.co.uk

London Midland is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Legally named London and Birmingham Railway Ltd. [ [http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/96f54115429e0c853688002986dd806e/compdetails WebCHeck - Select and Access Company Information ] ] , 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).

Routes

London Midland's services are divided between two sub-brands [ [http://www.londonmidland.com/doc/plans7.html London Midland Plans: Sub-brands] 25 October 2007] , "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.Fact|date=April 2008
*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; [ [http://www.alwaystouchout.com/project/66/ alwaystouchout.com - London Rail Authority ] ] 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

maller stations

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

These include [ London Midland's route map and timetables ] :

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

New services from December 2008

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): [ [http://londonmidland.go-cms.co.uk/index.php/cms/pages/view/123 London Midland News] ]

*New hourly service London-Northampton-Rugby-Nuneaton-Stafford-Stoke-Crewe;
*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.

Performance

The most recent performance figures for London Midland to be released by the ORR for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2007/8 are 89.4% Public Performance Measure. [ [http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/375.pdf ORR statistics] ]

Rolling stock

imagestack

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. [ Today's Railways Issue 81 ]

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.Fact|date=July 2008

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. [citeweb|url=http://www.londonmidland.com/index.php/news/news_items/view/22|title=Twenty seven new trains for London Midland|date=12 December 2007|publisher=London Midland] [citeweb|url=http://www.londonmidland.com/index.php/news/news_items/view/23|title=Parry People Movers for Stourbridge branch line|date=13 December 2007|publisher=London Midland] 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.

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. [ [http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/rollingstock/rollingstockplan?page=2 DfT rolling stock plan January 2008 - Indicative Number of Additional Vehicles required by English TOCs by 2014] ] .

See also

*Central Trains
**Central Citylink
*Silverlink

References

External links

* [http://www.londonmidland.co.uk London Midland official website]
* [http://www.londonmidland.co.uk/app/webroot/files/cache/City%20Map%20-%2020071101.pdf London Midland Route Map]
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