London Midland

The creation of London Midland came out of a wider initiative within the Department for Transport to redraw some of the passenger rail franchises that were operating in the mid-2000s. Specifically, it was decided to break up the Silverlink network pending its renewal in November 2007; the Silverlink Metro services were transferred to the control of Transport for London under the banner of the London Overground, while the Silverlink County services were merged with the Central Trains services around Birmingham to create a new West Midlands franchise.

The Central Trains franchise had also been selected for reorganisation, its operator having acquired an unfavourable reputation for poor timekeeping: its best performing period between 2000 and 2007 still saw one in six trains five minutes late or more, with punctuality figures dropping as low as 61% in 2003. The company also suffered from ongoing staff-relations problems which led to extensive and long-lasting cancellations of Sunday services. It was originally announced that the Central Trains franchise would end in April 2007, although it was subsequently an extended until November 2007.

The new West Midlands franchise was tendered and competitively bid for by private companies to operate it. On 22 June 2007, the Department for Transport announced it had awarded the West Midlands franchise to the British transport group Govia; the terms of this franchise included a start date of 11 November 2007, an end date of September 2015, an option for the department to end the franchise after six years if Govia did not meet performance targets, and the provision of £1.13bn of subsidy over the course of the franchise, starting with £203m in the first full year and falling to £155m by the last. The company pledged to introduce a new semi-fast service between London and Crewe, acquire at least 37 new multiple units by July 2009, and invest a minimum of £11.5m into its stations.

Services

London Midland's services were divided between four groups of routes: London Euston Routes, Birmingham Regional, West Midlands Local and Branch Lines.

London Euston Routes included train services between London Euston and Birmingham New Street or Crewe, as well as services which only use a small section of the route (e.g. Northampton – Birmingham New Street).

Birmingham Regional included longer-distance, semi-fast services between Birmingham New Street and Hereford, Shrewsbury or Liverpool Lime Street.

West Midlands Local included stopping services through Birmingham to nearby settlements such as Lichfield and Kidderminster.

Incidents

On 26 November 2015, an early morning commuter service caught fire during the morning commuter rush and passengers had to be evacuated at Lapworth Station.