West Midlands rail franchise
Applies to England and Wales
Read the full outcome
Detail of outcome
This ‘Stakeholder briefing document’ for the West Midlands franchise competition summarises the responses to the consultation that was carried out between December 2015 and March 2016 and provides the government’s response to it.
It also provides a description of what has been included in the new invitation to tender specification for the franchise competition and sets out what this might mean for stakeholders when the new franchise begins in October 2017.
Original consultation
Consultation description
The Department for Transport (DfT) and West Midlands Rail are seeking feedback on rail services, station and supporting services running in the West Midlands franchise area. We welcome views from:
- passengers
- communities
- businesses
- rail groups
- local authorities
- local enterprise partnerships
- unions
- rail employees
- other organisations
We are currently considering what we want the next West Midlands franchise operator to deliver. We welcome your feedback to ensure the franchise meets the needs of the people, businesses and areas it serves and caters for high levels of passenger growth.
For this consultation, DfT has worked in partnership with West Midlands Rail which represents the 14 West Midlands local authorities. This reflects DfT’s ongoing work to increase local input when deciding how local rail networks run.
Background on the West Midlands rail franchise
London Midland currently operate this franchise under an agreement which is due to end in October 2017. It provides over 1,300 services a day and serve 170 stations (directly managing 145). These services include local West Midlands services, long distance services between Liverpool, Crewe, Stafford, Milton Keynes and London and shorter distance services from Northampton into London. There are also branch lines from Bletchley to Bedford and Watford to St Albans Abbey.
Consultation events
We have organised a series of public events during January, February and March for people to come along to speak to the project team about the consultation and ask any questions to help inform their response.
Separate events have also been arranged so that stakeholders can meet, express views and discuss the consultation ahead of submitting formal responses. The stakeholder events are aimed at:
- local authorities
- local enterprise partnerships
- local business and commerce representatives
- local transport groups, rail groups and partnerships
These will be held in Birmingham, Crewe, Liverpool, London, Milton Keynes, Stafford, Watford, Wolverhampton and Worcester.
Details of dates, times and locations are available for stakeholders (PDF, 75KB) and the public (PDF, 69KB).
For more information or to register your interest in attending an event, please email [email protected], placing ‘event’ in the subject line.
Related West Midlands franchise documents
Documents
Updates to this page
Published 15 December 2015Last updated 30 August 2016 + show all updates
-
Response to consultation.
-
Added public and stakeholders events calendar for West Midlands franchise consultation.
-
First published.