News Archive

• 18 December 2008
  
  First of London Midland's new 100 mph Fleet to Enter Passenger Service with new Timetable
  
  The first trains from London Midland’s fleet of new Siemens Desiro trains will enter passenger service as part of the new timetable, from 14 December. Two of the first passenger services under the new timetable to feature the new trains are scheduled to be the 0713 Northampton (0730 MKC) – London Euston service on Monday, 15 December and the 0714 Milton Keynes – London Euston service on the same day. Both are set to be 12 carriage trains.

  The first of the new four carriage Siemens Class 350/2 Desiro trains, part of a £190 million investment by London Midland, will be carrying passengers mainly between London Euston and Northampton, with ten trains to enter service following the launch of the new timetable on 14 December.

  The trains are capable of 100mph and will carry passengers in air conditioned comfort (see MK Rail Users comment below). The new trains are part of the new fleet of Desiro trains, which will comprise 37 trains in total by July 2009, providing a better service to London Midland passengers.

  Steve Banaghan, Managing Director of London Midland, said: “This is a significant landmark for London Midland and our passengers. The new Desiro trains will transform the experience of passengers on our key routes and, combined with our new direct services between London, Birmingham and the North West offered by the new December timetable, will provide new opportunities to travel with London Midland.”

  Overall, London Midland is investing nearly £250 million in new and refurbished trains over the next two years.

  Steve Scrimshaw, Managing Director of Siemens Mobility UK Rolling Stock, said: “The West Coast Main line is a strategically important route and Siemens intends to build upon the proven reliability of its existing Desiro Class 350s with the introduction of this new fleet.”

  MK Rail Users comment:
  

  Without doubt this is good news for travellers to and from Milton Keynes & Bletchley. The new units are being phased in as the old 321s are phased out and certainly provide a standard of travel that passengers on the 321s will appreciate.

  However, and here comes the rub, the new Desiro’s have the same 3+2 seating as the 321s and not the comfortable seats we have come to enjoy on the current fleet of Desiros. What is more the current fleet are being deployed on the longer distant services. Initially, therefore, and probably in the longer term also, those of us who enjoy the 2+2 seating arrangement will have to get used to a re-introduction of the ‘daily squash’ We would also add that the fleet is being gradually introduced so some of us will have to put up with the 321s until the full implementation is carried out, mid 2009.

  If you want to avoid the new 3+2 seats, look for trains that start and end at Crewe. They may take longer, with more stops between MKC and Euston, but at least you will have room for your laptop (theoretically)

  In defence of London Midland these trains were ordered prior to LM winning the franchise and MK Rail Users will campaigning for future rolling stock to be of a standard that gives comfort as well as capacity

  For those who will mourn the passing of the 321s do not despair. Due to the faster than predicted growth in travel from our region, London Midland have a shortage of rolling stock to cater for demand. They are looking therefore to refurbish some of the sets to increase the capacity of their services.

• 30th June 2008

  Milton Keynes gets New Platform

  On a tour of the MKC station re-development work, members of MK Rail Users were able to see at first hand the superb work being undertaken to give MK the foundations for a vastly improved rail travel experience. With all the work on schedule to be completed at the end of the year, the first real change visitors will experience will be the opening of the platform 6 and the new northbound fast line at the end of June.

  Passengers will not however see any signs for platform 6. Temporarily it will take the identity of Platform 5 as the current northbound fast platform will be closed for refurbishment. Platform 6 will become the ‘real’ platform 6 when all the work is completed.

  Despite widespread criticism of the overrunning engineering work at Rugby, the MKC project team, on the other hand, has delivered each stage on time and without additional inconvenience to passengers. Enthusiastic and larger than life London Midland ‘site supremo’, Jim Holden, is justifiably proud of the achievements of all the agencies involved in ‘his’ project.

  30th May 2008

  "Thank You" to Staff from London Midland as Bletchley Train Depot Closes

  Bletchley train depot staff have been given a big ‘thank you’ by London Midland managing director Steve Banaghan on the site’s last day as a full maintenance site.

  From December, London Midland is phasing in a fleet of 37 state of the art 350/2 Desiro trains, which are maintained by Siemens at Northampton. These will eventually replace the 321s currently serviced at Bletchley. Most of the Bletchley engineering staff will be seconded to the Siemens site, while the cleaning staff will move to London Midland’s cleaning team.

  The depot land and buildings will revert to owner Network Rail when the lease ends later this year. The depot was opened 42 years ago and is widely respected throughout the industry. Its staff won the HSBC Rail Awards Engineering Excellence title last year after making the 321s it maintained about six times more reliable than average for the unit. London Midland managing director Steve Banaghan said: “The engineers at Bletchley are amongst the best in the industry and were vital to London Midland’s excellent performance in the first six months of our franchise. It’s good to know the new fleet will be in such good hands with them and Siemens in Northampton. “I’d like to say a big thank you to both them and the cleaning staff and wish them all well for the future care of the London Midland fleet.” In December, London Midland is phasing in 37 four-car Class 350/2 Siemens Desiros to run mainly on West Coast Mainline routes, and phasing out its Class 321 trains.

  28th May 2008

  West Coast Signalling Work Accelerated to Cut Delays

  Network Rail is to fast-track signalling renewals on the West Coast Main Line in an attempt to reduce disruption to trains caused by aged cabling which is prone to faults.

  Nearly 14 miles of old signalling power cable is to be replaced during the next 10 weeks in an accelerated programme of renewals. As some of the cable is coming up to 40 years old, its renewal had always formed part of the West Coast upgrade, but a number of recent signalling power failures in the Bletchley area have been traced to this cabling and so a fast-track programme, focussing on the most susceptible cable, has been devised.

  In total almost £3m will be spent at six locations along the route on replacing 60 miles of this 650v cable, which supplies power to the signalling system and is essential for delivering a reliable train service.

  The scheme will be completed before the end of the year as part of the ongoing West Coast project. Peter Strachan, route director, said: "We have acted speedily on our analysis of signalling power cable problems in this area and we are now implementing an accelerated programme to put in new and reliable replacements. In a very short period of time, passengers and freight users will reap the benefits of this investment through more reliable journeys across the route."

  Chris Gibb, Virgin Trains chief operating officer, said: "While this [signalling cable faults] has caused our customers considerable inconvenience, we are pleased that Network Rail has grabbed hold of the issue quickly and look forward to a significant improvement in performance."

   

• Saturday, 1st March 2008
  Major Service Disruption
  London Midland services between London and Milton Keynes continue to be severely disrupted as a result of two empty cargo containers, fallen from a freight train in the early hours of this morning. Network Rail staff are on the site, which is south of Bletchley.
  
  The lines are blocked in both directions. Network Rail advises that the lines will remain closed until at least 4pm this afternoon, whilst they lift the containers off the tracks and repair any damage to the tracks. Meanwhile there are severe delays on journeys to and from London and Milton Keynes.
  
  London Midland is issuing the following advice to passengers: Tickets valid for travel today can use them on alternative routes and other train services into London. Buses are running to all stations between Milton Keynes Central and Watford Junction, replacing trains in the areas affected by the line closures.
  
  Journeys by bus are taking longer than the train journeys, due to traffic and congestion on the roads. London Midland apologises for the cancellations and for the long delays for passengers who are travelling today. Passengers are advised to check before they travel and to be prepared for long delays and cancellations for the rest of the day

• Friday, 29th February 2008
  East West Link - A Step Forward
  MK Rail Users is delighted with the news that the long awaited west route to Oxford and Aylesbury has taken another step forward to becoming reality.
  
  Milton Keynes partnership reports:   A new report, commissioned and funded by Milton Keynes Partnership on behalf of the East West Rail Consortium, has confirmed that there is a strong business and operating case for a new network of railway lines and train services linking Milton Keynes to Oxford, Aylesbury and Bedford by 2012.
  
  For more about this story, please see "New report confirms strong business case for East West Rail" on the Milton Keynes Partnership website.”

• Thursday 28th February 2008
  Ticket Inspection Problems
  Commuters arrived at MK Central station this morning to be confronted by a large presence of Revenue Protection officers at the automatic barriers.
  
  All the barriers were manned by the officers and travellers were held up while their travel-cards, tickets and photo-cards were scrutinised. This caused lengthy queues and as a result a number of passengers had their journey plans severely disrupted. MK Rail Users asked London Midland for a full explanation for the need to use such strong tactics and cause inconvenience to their Customers.
  
  MK Rail Users have received an explanation for the disruption and fully support the efforts of London Midland on this occasion. Due to the nature of this exercise, we are, however, obliged not publish the explanation as this may jeopardise future operations of this nature.
  
  Whilst generally supportive in such circumstances MK Rail Users do not condone the disruption to passenger’s journey plans and will work closely with London Midland to ensure that checks in similar circumstances are undertaken with greater empathy with the travelling public.

• 25th February 2008
  ASLEF Withdraws Strike Action
  Agreement Reached
  Talks between the train drivers' union and London Midland have resulted in ASLEF withdrawing their threat of strike action.
  
  London Midland have made an undertaking to address the issue of the drivers' pension rights.  London Midland has also agreed to address the shortfall in pension entitlement by March 2009.

• 12th February 2008
  London Midland Drivers to go on Strike
  Pension problems continue
  London Midland trains drivers, based at Bletchley Depot, will be taking Industrial Action on 28th and 29th February 2008.
  
  ASLEF members will be taking strike action as a result of an apparent breakdown in talks between the union and London Midland.  London Midland appear to agree that there is a problem, but the proposed solution is not acceptable to the unions and its members.
  
  ASLEF have given warning that this is the beginning of what could be a long campaign of industrial action.
  
  The train operator has declared its disappoint at the union's action and the impact it will have on the travelling public.
  
  MK Rail Users have made representation to London Midland, asking the train operator, to assure them that the situation regarding refunds is made fully public before the strike action.  Additionally, MK Rail Users want London Midland to ensure that they publicise what alternative travel arrangements are being put in place well ahead of the strike days.