West Midlands

West Midlands Trains (WMT) operates services from London Euston via Birmingham to Liverpool and across the West Midlands.

Following the first major timetable change in May 2019, WMT suffered from six months of challenging operational performance in the second half of the year 2019. This led to the agreement of a Remedial Plan between WMT and the DfT in January 2020, including a 3% compensatory discount for season ticket holders. Organisational and operational steps taken in early 2020 led to significant improvement in performance in the run-up to the corona virus pandemic. Punctuality rose in the first quarter of 2020, from an average of 70.1% (Q4, 2019) to 79.5% (Q1, 2020) and was sitting at 88.5% by the 2020 year end helped also by the reduced timetable and lower passenger number caused by the corona virus.

WMT remains focused on delivering public transport improvements in the region, including the introduction of over 400 new train vehicles, expected late 2021 and building on improved operational performance during 2020.

The loss of passenger revenue from March 2020 has been compensated by additional income from UK government under EMA/ERMA contract variations, which is reflected in the table below.