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) [1]
Stations called at:	146 [2]
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 the name of a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Events 308 - The Congress of Carnuntum: Attempting to keep peace within the Roman Empire, the leaders of the Tetrarchy declare Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 335 - Dalmatius is raised to the rank of Caesar by his uncle Constantine I. 2015 ( MMXV) will be a Common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. The West Midlands is an official Region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. The West of England is a loose term given to the area surrounding the City and County of Bristol, England. The East Midlands is one of the Regions of England and consists of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. Govia is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. A joint venture between Go-Ahead (65 per cent and Keolis SA (35 per cent it is a key operator The Go-Ahead Group plc ( is a rail and bus operating company that was created following the privatisation of the UK's train and bus industries Keolis is the largest private sector French transport group It is a significant operator of tramways as well as operating bus networks funiculars trolley buses and airport services The term train operating company (abbreviated to TOC is used in the United Kingdom to describe the various businesses operating passenger trains on the railway The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Legally named London and Birmingham Railway Ltd. ^[3], it is a subsidiary of Govia, and has operated the West Midlands Franchise since 11 November 2007. Govia is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. A joint venture between Go-Ahead (65 per cent and Keolis SA (35 per cent it is a key operator Events 308 - The Congress of Carnuntum: Attempting to keep peace within the Roman Empire, the leaders of the Tetrarchy declare Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

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). The West Coast Main Line (WCML is a busy mixed-traffic railway route in the United Kingdom. Euston station (official name London Euston) is a major Railway station to the north of central London in the London Borough of Camden The West Midlands is an official Region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. Central Trains was a Train operating company in the United Kingdom, running local and long-distance services in central England. Silverlink Train Services Ltd was a Train operating company in the United Kingdom. National Express Group plc ( is a UK -based Transport group with headquarters in London that operates Bus, coach, rail

Routes

London Midland's services are divided between two sub-brands^[4], 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). The West Coast Main Line (WCML is a busy mixed-traffic railway route in the United Kingdom.

• Birmingham New Street – Liverpool Lime Street (plus one service a day to Preston) – the former Central Citylink service. Birmingham New Street is a major railway station located in the centre of the city of Birmingham, England. Liverpool Lime Street railway station on Lime Street is a mainline and underground Railway station serving the city centre of Liverpool, England Preston railway station serves the city of Preston in Lancashire, England and is a major station on the West Coast Main Line. Central Citylink was the brand name used from 2003 by Central Trains for their long distance services across the Midlands rail network
• 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). Euston station (official name London Euston) is a major Railway station to the north of central London in the London Borough of Camden Northampton (Castle railway station is the Railway station that serves Northampton and parts of the south of Northamptonshire in England Birmingham New Street is a major railway station located in the centre of the city of Birmingham, England. Silverlink Train Services Ltd was a Train operating company in the United Kingdom. Central Trains was a Train operating company in the United Kingdom, running local and long-distance services in central England.
• London Euston - Crewe – a new semi-fast service, which will replace current Virgin Trains services from December 2008. Euston station (official name London Euston) is a major Railway station to the north of central London in the London Borough of Camden Crewe railway station is one of the most historic Railway stations in the world Virgin Trains is a Train operating company in the United Kingdom, which currently provides services from London Euston to the North West 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. The Trent Valley Line is a Railway line between Rugby and Stafford in England, forming part of the West Coast Main Line.
• London Euston – Liverpool Lime Street – one direct service per day. Euston station (official name London Euston) is a major Railway station to the north of central London in the London Borough of Camden Liverpool Lime Street railway station on Lime Street is a mainline and underground Railway station serving the city centre of Liverpool, England

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). The Marston Vale Line (Network Rail route MD 140 is the railway line from Bletchley to Bedford in England. Bletchley is a Railway station that serves Bletchley Milton Keynes ( ceremonial Buckinghamshire) southern districts of Milton Keynes generally Bedford is the County town of Bedfordshire, England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the Bedford borough The St Albans Abbey Branch Line is a railway line from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey. Watford Junction station is a railway station in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. St Albans Abbey railway station serves the town of St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England, being situated about 1 km south of the town centre in the It is a requirement of the franchise that Transport for London's Oyster Cards can be used on trains between London and Watford Junction. Transport for London ( TfL) is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the Transport system in Greater London in England. The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. Watford Junction station is a railway station in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. In the past, TfL have expressed interest in taking over the St Albans branch, and installing Oyster Card readers on the stations along it;^[5] 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. The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE sometimes known as Centro, is a local government organisation ( Passenger Transport Executive) responsible The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE sometimes known as Centro, is a local government organisation ( Passenger Transport Executive) responsible Central Trains was a Train operating company in the United Kingdom, running local and long-distance services in central England. 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 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 ^[6]:

• Hartlebury; six trains a day Monday-Saturday, peak only, no Sunday service. Birmingham New Street is a major railway station located in the centre of the city of Birmingham, England. Northampton (Castle railway station is the Railway station that serves Northampton and parts of the south of Northamptonshire in England Birmingham New Street is a major railway station located in the centre of the city of Birmingham, England. Lichfield City railway station serves the city of Lichfield, in Staffordshire, England. Birmingham New Street is a major railway station located in the centre of the city of Birmingham, England. Redditch railway station serves the town of Redditch, Worcestershire, England. The Cross-City Line is a Suburban Railway line in the West Midlands region of England. Birmingham New Street is a major railway station located in the centre of the city of Birmingham, England. Walsall railway station is the principal Railway station of Walsall, West Midlands, England and situated in the heart of the town Stafford railway station ( Ordnance Survey grid reference) is an important main line interchange station in the United Kingdom. The Chase Line is the railway line from Birmingham New Street to Walsall and Rugeley. Birmingham New Street is a major railway station located in the centre of the city of Birmingham, England. Shrewsbury railway station (formerly known as Shrewsbury General) is a railway station serving the county town of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Birmingham New Street is a major railway station located in the centre of the city of Birmingham, England. For a history of railways in Hereford see Railways in Hereford. Bromsgrove railway station serves the town of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. Worcester Foregate Street railway station is situated in the centre of the city of Worcester, in Worcestershire, England. Birmingham Snow Hill is a railway station and tram stop in the centre of Birmingham, England on the site of a much larger station which was built by Leamington Spa railway station serves the town of Leamington Spa, in Warwickshire, England. Stratford-upon-Avon Railway station serves the town of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England. The Snow Hill Lines are railway lines running through Snow Hill station in Birmingham United Kingdom Stourbridge Junction railway station is a Railway station on the Birmingham Worcester and Kidderminster Line in West Midlands, England. Stourbridge Town is a Railway station near the centre of Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. The Stourbridge Town Branch Line is a short (08 mile railway Branch line, in Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. Coventry railway station is situated about 250 yards to the south of junction 6 of the inner ring road in the city of Coventry, West Midlands, England Nuneaton railway station serves the large town of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England. Walsall railway station is the principal Railway station of Walsall, West Midlands, England and situated in the heart of the town Hartlebury railway station serves the village of Hartlebury in Worcestershire.
• Bordesley, one train per day Monday-Friday (a parliamentary train), football specials on Saturday, no Sunday service. Bordesley railway station is a small Railway station serving the area of Bordesley in Birmingham, England. A Parliamentary train is nowadays a British English term for a train that operates a Parliamentary service - that is to say a token service to a given station thus

New services from December 2008

The company's expanded Desiro fleet will deliver the enhancements

From December, the competition 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):^[7]

• 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. Virgin Trains is a Train operating company in the United Kingdom, which currently provides services from London Euston to the North West

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

Performance

The first performance figures for London Midland to be released by the ORR for the second half of the third quarter of the financial year 2007/8 are 85. The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR is a statutory board which is the combined economic and safety regulatory authority for Great Britain's Railway network 4% PPM. ^[8]

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 Parry People Mover of the type 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. The British Rail Class 153 " Sprinter " is a single-car Diesel multiple unit train The Class 170 " Turbostar " is a Diesel multiple unit (DMU built by Bombardier Transportation (previously ADtranz) at their They also intend to use automatic load-monitoring systems to measure how heavily their services are used, for the purpose of alleviating over-crowding.

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. Events 764 - Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The British Rail Class 150 "Sprinter" Diesel multiple units (DMUs were built by BREL from 1984 - 87. The 150s in fact, do not have any branding any more. When Govia took over, they were more intent with removing "Central Trains" from units, than applying their name.

Class	Image	Type	Cars per set	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
				mph	km/h
Class 150/0 Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	3	75	120	2	Snow Hill Lines	1984
Class 150/1 Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	2/3	75	120	14 3 car 10 2 car	Snow Hill Lines Bedford - Bletchley	1984-1987
Class 150/2 Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	2	75	120	2	Snow Hill Lines	1985-1987
Class 153 Super Sprinter		diesel multiple unit	1	75	120	10	Stourbridge Branch Line Bedford - Bletchley Coventry - Nuneaton Strengthening of any diesel 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 Walsall	1999 – 2002
Class 321/4		electric multiple unit	4	100	160	37	Birmingham - Northampton Birmingham International - Walsall London - Milton Keynes /Northampton	1989 – 1990
Class 323		electric multiple unit	3	90	145	26	Lichfield - Redditch (The Cross City Line) Walsall - Birmingham Wolverhampton - Birmingham	1992
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. The British Rail Class 150 "Sprinter" Diesel multiple units (DMUs were built by BREL from 1984 - 87. A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a Multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board Diesel The Snow Hill Lines are railway lines running through Snow Hill station in Birmingham United Kingdom The British Rail Class 150 "Sprinter" Diesel multiple units (DMUs were built by BREL from 1984 - 87. A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a Multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board Diesel The Snow Hill Lines are railway lines running through Snow Hill station in Birmingham United Kingdom The British Rail Class 150 "Sprinter" Diesel multiple units (DMUs were built by BREL from 1984 - 87. A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a Multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board Diesel The Snow Hill Lines are railway lines running through Snow Hill station in Birmingham United Kingdom The British Rail Class 153 " Sprinter " is a single-car Diesel multiple unit train A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a Multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board Diesel The Stourbridge Town Branch Line is a short (08 mile railway Branch line, in Stourbridge, West Midlands, England. The Class 170 " Turbostar " is a Diesel multiple unit (DMU built by Bombardier Transportation (previously ADtranz) at their A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a Multiple unit train consisting of multiple carriages powered by one or more on-board Diesel The British Rail Class 321 Alternating current (AC Electric multiple units (EMU were built by BREL York in three batches from An electric multiple unit or EMU is a Multiple unit train consisting of many carriages using Electricity as the motive power The British Rail Class 323 Electric multiple units were built by Hunslet TPL from 1992-93 An electric multiple unit or EMU is a Multiple unit train consisting of many carriages using Electricity as the motive power The British Rail Class 350 "Desiro" Electrical multiple units were built by Siemens AG from 2004 - 2005. An electric multiple unit or EMU is a Multiple unit train consisting of many carriages using Electricity as the motive power 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. The British Rail Class 350 "Desiro" Electrical multiple units were built by Siemens AG from 2004 - 2005. 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. The Class 172 is a planned Diesel multiple unit (DMU of the Turbostar family similar to the Class 168, Class 170 and Class 171 Bombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Bombardier group British Rail Class 139 is the TOPS classification assigned to the lightweight railcars being built for operation by London Midland on the Stourbridge Town Parry People Movers (PPM is a British company manufacturing lightweight railbuses that use Flywheel energy storage (FES to store energy for traction ^[9][10] 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. British Rail Class 139 is the TOPS classification assigned to the lightweight railcars being built for operation by London Midland on the Stourbridge Town 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 in January 2008, they announced that the current fleet of 17 Class 323s currently operated by Northern Rail would be cascaded to London Midland in order to form a uniform fleet with 24 new units being ordered for the North West operation^[11]. The British Rail Class 323 Electric multiple units were built by Hunslet TPL from 1992-93 Northern Rail (often referred to simply as Northern) is a Train operating company that has operated local passenger services in the north of England North West England is one of the nine official Regions of England.

See also

• Central Trains
  • Central Citylink
• Silverlink

References

External links

• London Midland official website
• London Midland Route Map