London Midland

London Midland is the name of a train operating company in the United Kingdom. Legally named London and Birmingham Railway Ltd., it is a subsidiary of Govia, and has operated the West Midlands Franchise since 11 November 2007.

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).

Routes
London Midland's services are divided between two sub-brands, 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).


 * Birmingham New Street – Liverpool Lime Street (plus one service a day to Preston)
 * London Euston - Northampton - Birmingham New Street
 * London Euston - Crewe
 * London Euston – Liverpool Lime Street (one direct service per day).

The first route is a former Central Citylink service. The second route is the former Silverlink County route (although latterly the services between Northampton and Birmingham have been run jointly with Central Trains. The third service is a new semi-fast service, which will replace current Virgin Trains services from December 2008.  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 fourth route is an extension of the third route (once a day).

The brand will also be used for two former Silverlink County 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). It is a requirement of the franchise that Transport for London's Oyster Cards can be used on trains between London and Watford Junction. In the past, TfL have expressed interest in taking over the St Albans branch, and installing Oyster Card readers on the stations along it ; however this route was included with London Midland's 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. 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 :


 * Hartlebury; six trains a day Monday-Saturday, peak only, no Sunday service.
 * Bordesley, one train per day Monday-Friday (a parliamentary train), football specials on Saturday, no Sunday service.

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 85.4% PPM.

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. 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 170 "Turbostar" units on the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury line and the Class 150 "Sprinter" units still carry their original liveries. 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.

Future fleet
As part of its franchise agreement, London Midland is committed to a major programme of new rolling stock. 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. 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. 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. 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.