Rail passengers in the West Midlands must not be let down by today’s Government announcement on the future of the network.

Passenger numbers are growing at above the national average, so it is vital that the region does not miss out on investment – that’s the view of West Midlands regional transport bosses reacting to Alistair Darlings’ speech at the National Rail Conference earlier today.

Although the Secretary of State focused once again on long distance services and commuting in London and the South East, he did acknowledge the needs of city-regions outside the Capital.

“We must now ensure we get our fair slice of the cake,” comments Cllr Gary Clarke, chairman of the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority.

He said Centro-PTA would be working with the business community and other partners to lobby on behalf of the region.

“Network capacity really is critical in the West Midlands which lies at the hub of the national network,” says Cllr Clarke.

“We have inter-city, cross-country, suburban off-peak and essential commuter services all competing for the same track.  And when we get rail gridlock in the West Midlands there is very quickly a knock-on effect for the wider network.”

In Birmingham, one in five commuters now travels by rail and public transport use is the dominant mode of travel in the city’s rush hour.

This was acknowledged by the Secretary of State, who said that if we want our cities to drive economic success in the future then their rail capacity problems need to be addressed.

“This is welcome news,” says Rob Donald, director general of passenger transport body Centro.  “We will now be looking to the forthcoming White Paper to address the rail capacity problems here in the West Midlands.”

Local councils in the West Midlands are seeking Government funding for a £500m improvement at New Street Station – but that only addresses station capacity and does nothing at the moment to solve the rail bottleneck.

“Alistair Darling’s comments today show that, in some areas at least, the Government is thinking along the right lines,” comments Cllr Paul Allen, vice-chair of the West Midlands PTA and the lead member for budget issues.

“Certainly it is a positive step that we are seeing improvements to bus services, light rail networks and even the conurbations roads all mentioned together by Alistair Darling at a railways conference.  This sort of integrated thinking is what we really need to tackle the growing issue of congestion – and bodies like Centro-PTA are working hard to lead the way,” he adds.