Longer trains and more seats for passengers across the Midlands

Passengers travelling from Birmingham to Nottingham, Leicester and Cardiff will start to see longer trains on some services from May 2020 delivering more than 5,000 more seats each week. A further 15,000 seats per week are planned to be in place from mid-2021, including to/from Cambridge and Stansted Airport to support the region’s commuters, businesses and leisure travellers.

More customers are set to benefit as the Department for Transport (DfT) and CrossCountry finalise plans to deliver thousands more seats on long distance routes each week from December 2020. Longer trains will operate on some services on Mondays to Thursdays on the routes from Scotland, the North East and Manchester to the South West and the South Coast.

The £2.5 million new government funding was agreed by the DfT and CrossCountry to help tackle overcrowding. Work is underway on further improvements in the years to come when more rolling stock will be available, especially for longer distance routes that Cross Country serves.

Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris, said:

Tom Joyner, CrossCountry’s Managing Director, said:

Investment will also be made to expand CrossCountry’s seat reservation service to allow passengers to reserve a seat on most services to ensure they can travel in comfort for their journey, as well as to reserve a space for their bike. The investment will also improve communication and signage, pointing to places where luggage can be stored during a journey, both when travelling and as they board the train.

Three recently established Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) – groups of committed and dedicated people who work with the rail industry and local authorities to promote the line and improve stations, train services, bus links and access – are also being supported. The CRPs for Worcestershire, Heart of England and Bolton will receive financial support to deliver initiatives to benefit local communities, stations and train services.

The funding from government follows an agreement to extend the CrossCountry franchise last summer to October 2020.

Notes to editors

• CrossCountry’s network is the most geographical-extensive passenger rail franchise in Britain. Stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance and from Stansted to Cardiff, it calls at over 100 stations. Based in Birmingham, CrossCountry connects seven of the Britain’s 10 largest cities and delivers 298 services every weekday, equating to over 40 million passenger journeys a year.
• The current CrossCountry Franchise Agreement has been extended until 13 October 2020. CrossCountry, Arriva and the Department for Transport are currently discussing the possibility of a Direct Award to allow them to continue operating the franchise for a longer period, and with further passenger benefits, while the forthcoming decisions are taken on the future structure of Britain’s rail industry in light of the Williams Rail Review.
• As part of the Proposal for the Direct Award, the Department has asked the CrossCountry operator to consider the potential for additional long-distance trains to be deployed on the Franchise as early as possible.  

• The Williams Review is the first comprehensive review of the railway in a generation. The Review was tasked with making ambitious proposals to reform the rail industry and franchising model. The Government will publish a White Paper based on the recommendations of the Williams Review early this year.