WM Trains Limited, trading as West Midlands Trains, is a state-owned British train operating company that operates commuter and local services in the West Midlands region and on the West Coast Main Line between London and the Northwest under two trading names: within the West Midlands region as West Midlands Railway (WMR) and outside the region as London Northwestern Railway (LNR). It assumed responsibility for these services on 1 February 2026 at the conclusion of the outsourcing contract previously placed with Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co.
Services London Northwestern Railway services WMT's services along the West Coast Main Line (WCML) rail corridor are operated under the London Northwestern Railway brand. These services include:
services out of ; two local lines that branch off the WCML at Watford Junction and Bletchley.
As of February 2026, the typical off-peak MondaySaturday London Northwestern Railway service pattern, with frequencies in trains per hour (tph), includes:
West Coast Main Line Route Calling at 2 London Euston 2 London Euston 2 London Euston 1 Stafford Crewe 1 Birmingham New Street 1 1 Abbey Line Route tph Calling at Watford Junction 1 Marston Vale Line Route tph Calling at Bletchley 1 The primary express trains along the WCML are provided by Avanti West Coast.
West Midlands Railway services
In the West Midlands region, WMT's train services are operated under the West Midlands Railway brand. These services include:
services through Birmingham; the Elephant & Bear Line (Nuneaton - Leamington) branch line.
Services on the short Stourbridge Town branch line are run by the open access operator Pre Metro Operations, who operate services on behalf of WMT under the West Midlands Railway brand name.
, the typical off-peak Monday–Saturday West Midlands Railway service pattern, with frequencies in trains per hour (tph), includes:
Birmingham Shrewsbury Route Calling at 1 1 Malvern Line Route Calling at Birmingham New Street 1 Some journeys additionally call at after Droitwich Spa Cross-City Line Route Calling at Bromsgrove 2 Four Oaks 2 Chase Line Route Calling at Wolverhampton 2 2 Snow Hill lines Route Calling at via 1 Stratford-upon-Avon Kidderminster via 1 Whitlocks End Kidderminster 1 Dorridge Worcester Foregate Street 1 Camp Hill Line Route Calling at Birmingham New Street Kings Norton 2 Elephant & Bear Line Route Calling at 1 Stourbridge Shuttle Route Calling at Stourbridge Junction 6 Shuttle service
Political background In the lead-up to the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the Labour Party of Keir Starmer committed itself to bring the passenger operations of the British rail network back under state ownership. Following its election win, the government introduced the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 that received royal assent in November 2024.
In July 2025, the government announced that DfT Operator would take over responsibility for passenger services from Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co on 1 February 2026.West Midlands Trains nationalisation date confirmed Railway Gazette International 30 July 2025West Midlands Trains to enter public ownership Modern Railways issue 924 September 2025 page 9British passenger renationalisation progresses International Railway Journal 29 September 2025 (Although the process is sometimes described as "nationalisation", this is in contrast to the previous "privatisation" rather than any compulsory acquisition. Formally, the outsourcing contract ("franchise") was merely not renewed when it reached its end-date, and employed staff were transferred to the successor company at their existing terms and conditions in accordance with the TUPE regulations.)
Rolling Stock
Fleet FamilyClassImageTypeTop speedNumberCarriagesRoutes operatedBuiltmphkm/hShunting locomotive Shunter 15 24 2 N/A Stock movements West Midlands Railway Parry People Mover Railcar 20 32 2 1 Stourbridge Town branch line 2009 Bombardier Turbostar DMU 100 161 8 2 Birmingham–Hereford Snow Hill lines 2010 4 2011 12 15 3 CAF Civity 12 2 Birmingham–Shrewsbury Birmingham–Hereford Camp Hill line Leamington Spa to Nuneaton2019–2020144 Bombardier Aventra EMU 90 145 48 3 – via Cross-City Line Chase Line20212023 London Northwestern Railway Sprinter DMU 75 121 3 2 Marston Vale line 1985–1986 Siemens Desiro EMU 110 177 50 4 Abbey Line – – via –/ London Euston–Northampton – via Trent Valley Line London Euston–Birmingham New Street – –20042014 Bombardier Aventra 90 145 48 3 – / 20212023 Class 730/2 110 177 36 5 – –/ London Euston–Northampton – via Trent Valley Line London Euston–Birmingham New Street2021–2024
References