Ministers urged to strip West Midlands Trains of franchise as performance drops again

Official figures for the operator's performance in February saw 61 per cent of services arrive on time and 1,091 trains cancelled – double the figure for January.

It has prompted Labour's mayoral candidate Liam Byrne to call for Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to remove WMT's franchise.

WMT said the vast majority of cancellations over the period were outside of its control, and resulted from three major storms and severe flooding hitting the region.

The provider also suggested Mr Byrne had arrived late to the party, noting that a £20 million improvement plan had already been agreed with ministers.

Commuters were again complaining of overcrowding and delays on WMT services this morning, with the provider blaming trespassers on the line and a "unit fault" for disruption.

Lee, a 41-year-old commuter from Oldbury, said: "The 7.07am train from Sandwell and Dudley is always late or reduced down to two carriages instead of four, even when it is four carriages it’s packed.

"It’s always the same excuse - “maintenance” - they probably need more maintenance due to the weight they have to carry due to overcrowding.

"There is a train that flies through the station at about 7.12am that doesn’t stop. It always has four carriages or more and is always empty, all they need to do is route it to stop or swap it around. It is so dangerous in a morning, people literally fall out when the doors open.

"They send the usual generic reply to any tweets and then just don’t answer or actually reply.

"The health and safety warning says in event of a fire or emergency slowly make your way to the next carriage. When you can’t breathe out without bumping someone, this is honestly a disaster waiting to happen."

'Basics'

WMT has been under the microscope since the end of last year, when West Midlands Mayor Andy Street threatened to ask the Government to strip it of its franchise following a wretched performance in the second half of 2019.

Birmingham MP Mr Byrne accused WMT of failing to "get the basics right", such as providing enough drivers or carriages.

"After months of misery for the travelling public it is clear that West Midlands Railway is failing and the franchise needs to be taken from them," he added.

"The public no longer trusts the service to be timely or reliable."

Action

Mr Byrne has also accused Mr Street of failing to take strong action against WMT, claiming he should have urged ministers to remove its franchise before Christmas.

Mayor Street said the operator should be given time to bring in improvements, although he noted that March and the Easter holidays would be crucial for the company's future.

"If they begin to slip back into their old ways then I will have no hesitation in demanding the DfT take the franchise away," he said.

Since Mr Street's intervention last year West Midlands Trains has brought in a series of changes, including a new timetable, the implementation of which has been brought forward, and a new recruitment drive to fill driver vacancies.

Mr Shapps has also taken action, ordering the operator to spend an extra £20 million to improve services, including a compensation scheme for passengers.

The operator's new managing director Julian Edwards has apologised for the firm's failings and vowed to oversee improvements.

A West Midlands Railway spokesperson said: "The February performance figures reflect the effects of three major storms and severe flooding across our region. The vast majority of train cancellations during this period were outside our control.

"We already have a £20m improvement plan at the request of the Secretary of State. This plan, despite the storms and flooding, is delivering better train performance than the second half of 2019. The plan already addresses the issues raised by Liam Byrne."

Last month was particularly testing for train operators across the country due to the atrocious weather conditions.

It was the wettest February on record, and the fifth wettest month since 1862.