Agenda item

External speakers will give a briefing on the changes and updates to West Midlands Railway:

Malcolm Holmes (Executive Director, WMRE)

Jonny Wiseman (Customer Experience Director, West Midlands Trains) and Francis Thomas (head of Corporate Affairs, West Midlands Trains).

Malcom Holmes (Executive Director, West Midlands Railway Executive) explained that the West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) are a partnership of local authorities across the West Midlands, including Warwickshire County Council, and the De Facto rail authority for the region. The WMRE works with the DfT and they manage the contract for rail services and undertake rail strategy work in the West Midlands.

Since March 2020, passenger numbers have plummeted on trains which have been consistent with government guidance to avoid public transport. This had risen slightly when shops reopened, and they are currently operating 70% of the timetables to maximise social distancing with an aim to increase this to 80% in July 2020. Malcom Holmes continued that they had established a coordination group with Network Rail in the region which led the rail response to Covid-19. The rail industry have calculated their capacity in order to enforce social distancing and have slightly reduced trains on the Coventry line in Warwickshire; they have been in contact with Chiltern regarding the lack of trains through Warwick. The West Midlands Railway services are running as normal on the Leamington Spa to Coventry and Nuneaton line. Social distancing measures have been administered across West Midland stations, when passengers are at a higher capacity there could be delays due to social distancing.

The WMRE have been working with Midlands Connect on a project called Birmingham Airport Connectivity which will connect the Thames Valley, Oxford and Leamington Spa to Newcastle via Coventry and Birmingham Airport. Midlands Connect are working on a business case to double some of the existing single line section on the route between Leamington and Coventry, but this will not allow an improvement to the local service for Kenilworth without full doubling of the route. Therefore, further work had been commissioned between Midlands Connect, the DfT and Network Rail to assess the benefits of running a second local rail service which supports the full doubling of the route.

Malcom Holmes stated that phase one of HS2 (High Speed Railway) has recently been given the formal ‘notice to proceed’ by government, and that a revised HS2 business case had been published which showed in most scenarios, it will have a positive value for money. Malcom Holmes expressed the WMRE concerns about the business case as it did not refer to northbound services in Phase 2A after the initial route going northwards. He continued that there will be huge benefits for the West Midlands being connected to the north and Scotland, but there is a risk that this service will not be provided through HS2 infrastructure until the completion of Phase 2B. The National Infrastructure Commission is undertaking a review into HS2 Phase 2B and WMRE had stressed the importance of an early direct service introduction northbound in its response.

Malcom Holmes concluded that the West Midlands Rail Investment Strategy was published in January 2019; however, due to the long term economic and commuting impact of Covid-19, this had led to a need to undertake a review, and this work is underway.

Following a question from Councillor Kondakor, Malcom Holmes agreed to query about the work progress on ‘KNUCKLE 3.1’, which will provide direct services again between Coventry and Nuneaton. The WMRE are in discussion with the DfT in regard to having more responsibility for the cross-country services that operate in Birmingham, Nuneaton, Leicester and Stanstead rail corridors. Since these services are run by Cross-Country and run outside the area WMRE cover, they have insufficient capacity and higher fares; therefore, WMRE are proposing that this route is operated by the local train operator. He concluded that train timetables post-HS2 are still being reviewed and finalised. Councillor Kondakor and Malcom Holmes discussed the line north of Coventry being electrified.

In response to Councillor Shilton, Malcom Holmes reiterated that Covid-19 had impacted West Midlands Trains’ efforts to increase the number of train crew to avoid cancellations and disruption that was experienced during autumn 2019, they have a contractually committal remedial plan with the DfT to improve performance. He added that providing extra carriages depends on route demand and would be unlikely in the short term.

Malcolm Holmes concurred with to Councillor John Holland, that Warwickshire should maximise local rail services to benefit the region but the line needs expanding and improving. The WMRE are working on rail schemes that would benefit Warwickshire and the Warwickshire’s Rail Strategy influences the West Midlands Rail Investment Strategy review. Councillor Peter Butlin (Portfolio Holder for Finance and Property) informed the committee that the West Midlands Economic Development Board are developing plans for economic regeneration post-Covid-19 and the new railway strategies should aid this.

In response to Councillor Clarke, Malcom Holmes stated that Warwickshire is one of the most rail proactive West Midland authorities and agreed to support where possible with longer-term aspirations for northbound services from Nuneaton and other developments.

Following a question raised by the Chair, Malcom Holmes stated that it is anticipated that the line through Kenilworth station would still be fully doubled track in the future.

Jonny Wiseman (Customer Experience Director, West Midlands Trains) introduced himself to the committee. He stated that the Covid-19 crisis allowed West Midlands Trains (WMT) to run an effective timetable, enabling them to see what can be achieved in future. WMT negotiated with their stakeholders and WMRE to ensure timetables meet demand and capacity. Since opening, Kenilworth station’s footfall and ticket sales increased annually but Covid-19 halted this; social distancing measures and protective screens have been implemented. Regionally, a reduced timetable was implemented in April 2020, but this had been expanded since. A significant number of WMT colleagues were self-isolating but this has reduced, allowing WMT to implement their timetables. Jonny Wiseman continued that cleaning and the cleaning staff have been increased; face mask posters, social distancing measures and floor markings have been implemented in stations. Jonny Wiseman concluded that they will be providing face masks from the 6^th July when their timetables are increased.

Francis Thomas (Head of Corporate Affairs, West Midlands Trains) informed the committee that WMT have worked with West Midland based authorities and transport operators to raise public awareness of what WMT are doing and provide consistency; this included 220 media appearances. WMT stakeholders have been updated with newsletters which is available to the public. Francis Thomas continued that they had attended other council meetings and provided virtual briefings to spread awareness and extend their messages reach. Commuters have been encouraged to travel at quieter periods and only when necessary; testimonials from frontline staff have been used too. Francis Thomas concluded that social distancing would be a problem at 20% of the normal capacity and WMT are encouraging commuters to buy and obtain refunds for their tickets online.

The Chair thanked all the speakers for attending the meeting.