New trains on track through £62m spend
New trains will be introduced between London and the Midlands after the Government announced it was investing £62million on the route.
An extra 4,000 seats on the busiest morning and evening services each day will be introduced on the London Midland network to and from London Euston.
The new trains will travel through Lichfield Trent Valley and Birmingham New Street stations in the area.
Rail minister Claire Perry said: "As part of our long-term economic plan, we are investing record amounts in transforming the rail network, providing more seats, more trains and better journeys for millions of passengers.
"Over the next five years more than £38billion will be invested in building a world-class railway across the country."
Most of the extra trains will be introduced on London Midland's services ready for the new winter timetable in December although between areas including London Euston, Northampton, Bletchley and Tring new trains have been brought in from today. (MON)
The minister added: "It is fantastic news that London Midland's customers will start to enjoy this much-needed extra capacity earlier than expected and I am looking forward to seeing the remaining trains start running from December."
Patrick Verwer, managing director of London Midland said: "We are committed to improving the overall journey experience for our passengers, and adding more carriages to some of our busiest train services over the next few weeks will make a real difference to our London-bound commuters.
"This investment will also allow us to deliver more passenger services on the Cross City line between Birmingham and Redditch from December - our busiest commuter route in the West Midlands."
Bosses at London Midland are currently drawing up the new timetable which will come in from December. They say the don't know at this stage how many extra trains will run every hour in the region when the new services are introduced.
Last month it was revealed more than a third of passengers on some trains through the West Midlands have been forced to stand due to overcrowding.
London Midland trains are also some of the most overcrowded in the country.
The operator had the second-highest rate of excess passengers, with 7.7 per cent having to stand because they cannot get seats.
Only First Great Western is worse on 9.2 per cent. The department's figures also show the London Midland 6.13pm service from London Euston to Birmingham New Street was one of the 10 most overcrowded services in autumn 2013.
