Minister warns London Midland over train cancellations

RAIL minister Norman Baker has warned train firm London Midland about its performance after further cancellations of services.

Train commuters in Birmingham faced travel chaos yesterday when more than 60 trains operated by London Midland were affected. On Monday the company cancelled around 30 trains on the Lichfield to Redditch, Birmingham to Northampton and Walsall and Rugeley to Wolverhampton lines.

London Midland says the problems are due to it not having enough qualified staff to drive the trains.

But the excuse doesn’t seem to have satisfied Baker.

In a thinly veiled warning to London Midland, he said commuters are not “getting the services they need”.

He said he had spoken to the firm’s managing director to “discuss how performance can be improved” and would be closely monitoring the firm’s performance.

Most of the services affected are on commuter lines to and from Birmingham, but the problems have affected other destinations on the London Midland network, including the Coventry to Nuneaton route.

Richard Burden, Labour MP for Longbridge in Birmingham, tabled a written parliamentary question on Monday asking the transport secretary to make a statement on the cancellations.

London Midland said it is addressing the problem. It apologised to passengers and said it would provide road transport where necessary.

The firm said the shortfall in qualified train drivers would be addressed by mid-December.