Contest to manage Midland rail travel evolves

  • 2016-07-11
The competition to manage the rail service for the London Midland route has altered with the withdrawal of a bidder.

MTR Corporation from Hong Kong has chosen to back away from the battle to control the rail service currently run by London Midland. This means that either London Midland or Abellio from the Netherlands will have the franchise in the future. The Worcester network includes areas like South Birmingham and Staffordshire.

Commuter travel between Worcestershire and Staffordshire is particularly busy. The winner of the franchise could use a Print company from South Birmingham to produce relevant leaflets. Other services to Liverpool, London, Stoke-on-Trent, and Crewe may be affected by a change in the ownership of the franchise.

MTR Corporation gave no explanation for its decision. The business is in charge of a mass transit system within Hong Kong. Last month, the organisation confirmed that it would bid for a franchise in the region of South West England. To that end, it is cooperating with FirstGroup. It was only in April that its intention to bid for the Midland service was declared, with a Department for Transport minister made the announcement at the time.

London Midland has been running the South Birmingham service for almost a decade, but it may not be in control of the franchise by the summer of 2017. The new arrangement will be in place by October next year.


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