Abellio began operating West Midlands Trains (WM) on 10th December 2017 for a period of 8 years and 3 months as part of a 70:15:15 venture with Mitsui and Japan Railways East. The franchise is let by DfT, however the regional client is Transport for West Midlands, and covers services across Birmingham, as well as trains from London Euston to Crewe and from Liverpool to Birmingham.
WM is focused on delivering public transport improvements in the region, bringing in over 400 train vehicles by 2021 which will provide space for an extra 85,000 passengers on rush hour services in Birmingham and London. The first major timetable change is scheduled for May 2019, which will take a lot of effort for the organisation.
The first full year result of this franchise has been positive. WM is also impacted by DfT’s imposition of the CLE mechanism, but the impact in 2018 was not as severe as for the Greater Anglia franchise.