Complete control over local trains is vital for a new era of improved rail services, a candidate for the Mayor of the West Midlands has said.
Andy Street, Conservative candidate for Mayor, said it was vital that management of local rail services is from the West Midlands, rather than from the Department for Transport.
Having committed to the opening of the Camp Hill lines – south to Moseley and Kings Heath and north to Castle Vale – Andy has underlined the need for local services currently run by London Midland to also come under Mayoral control.
The London Midland franchise – which operates services across 177 stations in the West Midlands and beyond – concludes in October 2017 and is now being retendered.
Andy is calling on the Government to accelerate plans to run these local services as a separate business unit, grounded in the region.
Andy said: “The key to achieving the rail services our economy requires – with better, faster and more reliable trains – is having local power and accountability. We are all acutely aware of the challenges we face with our rail services – but this is largely a consequence of the success of the railways locally. Over the last 20 years, the number of people travelling by rail each day in the West Midlands has trebled. More people arrive by train in Birmingham every day than any other city outside London – almost 125,000 – with four out of five of these starting or ending in the area that will be covered by the Mayor. I have already committed to the reopening of the passenger line to Moseley and Kings Heath, and north to Castle Vale, in addition to the expansion of the Midland Metro to Brierley Hill and UK Central As Mayor, with the proper powers from Government, I want to bring about a new era of improvements to our services, to keep pace with our economic growth.”
Amanda Milling, Member of Parliament for Cannock Chase is backing Andy Street in calling for the devolution of powers in relation to the West Midland's rail services.
She said: "The issues with the Chase Line are an excellent example of why I believe powers and decisions should be made here in the West Midlands. Passengers of the Chase Line have faced cancelled, delayed and severely overcrowded trains. Train operators need to be held to account and I believe this would be most effective if the Mayor had full responsibility the local rail services, where the train operators are held to account by the Mayor rather than by the Department of Transport. I also believe a local representative who fully understands the area and the local needs of passengers would be better placed to develop the specification for the franchise and make decisions about rail franchises. So, I fully support Andy's calls for these powers to be given to the new Mayor. He is absolutely right to be calling for this devolution of decision making and will do an excellent job if elected as Mayor."