New managing director for West Midlands Trains welcomed

The West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) has welcomed the appointment of Julian Edwards as new managing director for West Midlands Train.

Cllr Mark Winnington, chair of the WMRE, expressed his keenness to work closely with Julian at a time when passengers will start to see the benefits of West Midlands Trains £1 billion investment programme in new trains, stations and services.

Cllr Winnington said: "While I recognise the hard work that has been invested since the launch of the West Midlands Trains franchise in 2017, recent performance has not been good enough and has not met the standards which customers deserve.

"West Midlands Trains has accepted this and work is well advanced on driving forward performance improvements, including a new improved timetable in May 2020".

The much needed timetable improvements are combined with a massive £1 billion investment programme which sees the introduction of new trains and investment in stations.

Two brand new train fleets are coming, starting in the second half of this year on Birmingham New Street to Worcester and Hereford services.

Good progress is being made on taking forward the construction of new stations through the West Midlands Rail Programme at Perry Barr, University, the Camp Hill line and Willenhall and Darlaston.

Cllr Winnington added: "We welcome Julian's appointment very positively, but recognise there is still a great deal of work to do.

"We're confident that Julian's extensive experience in the rail industry and unwavering passion to work collaboratively with rail stakeholders, not least the WMRE, will deliver customer benefits and have a railway that West Midlanders are proud of".

West Midlands Rail Executive is the partnership of 16 West Midlands Local Authorities co-managing the West Midlands Railway franchise with the Department for Transport, and planning the strategic future of the West Midlands rail network in conjunction with rail industry and local authority partners.