London Midland has brought the first of its refurbished trains into service in the West Midlands, part of a £243 million investment in its rolling stock.
The three carriages of the 323-class train have also been decked out in London Midland's new green and black livery, with new seat covers, interiors, and design improvements to help people with impaired sight.
It's the first of 26 London Midland trains in the class in the West Midlands which will be upgraded, at a rate of about one a week over the next six months. Some of the carriages will have intelligent sensors to count the number of passengers and help avoid overcrowding.
Engineering director John Barlass said: "This is only the start for our passengers in the West Midlands. We're spending £243 million to bring a more reliable, more comfortable and more modern rail service across all our routes, including information screens and CCTV."
"We're buying three new fleets of trains and introducing a comprehensive programme to improve reliability, as well as all the refurbishment. We've also just completed a ‘deep clean' of all our trains, another of our franchise commitments."
London Midland has already repainted or refurbished six Class 170 diesel trains and 12 Class 350 trains which are in use across its network.
