County rail company sees passenger numbers soar
Shropshire rail operator London Midland has seen passenger numbers soar over the last year, its parent company has revealed.
The number of passengers using the service, which runs trains from Shrewsbury and Telford into Wolverhampton and Birmingham, has risen by four per cent in the last 12 months.
The company is owned by Govia, which is a joint venture headed by Go-Ahead Group, and which also runs the under-fire Southern service.
The rising number of passengers using London Midlands trains has also helped boost revenue at the group, which is set to clock in 4.5 per cent higher when the group reports full-year results on September 7.
"London Midland’s financial performance remains strong," the group said.
"Revenue and passenger numbers are growing ahead of the wider industry.
"This strong performance has enabled the franchise to continue making profit share payments to the Department for Transport, which are expected to continue for the remainder of the contract, to October 2017."
Go-Ahead is awaiting the announcement of whether it will continue to run the franchise for the region, which includes managing a number of stations including Telford Central, Wellington, Oakengates Shifnal and Albrighton.
It is one of two companies to have been shortlisted for the new franchise, and an announcement on who is to run the service from the autumn is expected later this month.
Its opponent in the bidding process is Abellio Transport Group – a Dutch-Japanese joint venture.
Go-Ahead is facing fresh disruption on its Southern Railway services, however, with a train driver overtime ban set to start on June 29 which the group said would cause more "unnecessary disruption" for customers.
The group revealed that passenger revenues for the year to July 1 are expected to drop by around four per cent on its GTR service, which runs Southern, with passenger journeys also down four per cent.
The group said: "There has been no significant industrial action on Southern services in the last five months and, consequently, service and performance levels have stabilised, allowing the company to deliver more reliable rail services to customers.
"Disappointingly, the Aslef union has called for an overtime ban for Southern train drivers which, if it goes ahead, will result in unnecessary disruption for customers."
