London Midland today (Oct 1) announced that from December there will be an extra 1,600 seats on peak commuter services into and out of London.
The extra seats are part of a successful bid London Midland has made to the Department for Transport for extra trains and extra services as part of the Government's High Level Output Specification (HLOS).
The extra seats will come as part of five extra "shuttle services", which will start in December, as part of the new timetable. These will operate from Watford, Bushey and Harrow and Wealdstone, providing more choice and more seats for some of the busiest commuter services operated by London Midland. Two of the shuttles will also serve Tring and Milton Keynes.
The HLOS agreement also confirms an increase in the London Midland fleet by 7 four-car electric trains, over and above the new fleet of Class 350/2 trains introduced at the end of July and the existing Class 350/1 fleet. The seven four-carriage London Midland Class 321 trains will enable the company to provide more 12-carriage trains at peak times.
A number of other improvements will also be made, including extra ticket gates at London Euston to ease congestion on the platforms at peak times and extra staff to operate the services and facilities to support the operation and maintenance of the extra trains.
London Midland Managing Director, Mike Hodson said: “These extra seats are great news for London Midland passengers travelling to and from Euston.
“In addition to our £190m investment in new trains, this successful bid means we can provide more peak services when they’re really needed.”
