Bosses at a train company have confirmed that an hourly fast service to Lichfield Trent Valley could begin running early next year.
The news follows talks between Lichfield’s MP and senior figures from Avanti West Coast, including managing director Andy Mellor.
Conservative MP Sir Michael Fabricant said the West Coast Main Line services would provide “a significant economic boost” for the area:
“Avanti has confirmed to me that as from early next year and fully operational by mid-2026 – possibly sooner – they will be running an hourly fast service to and from Lichfield Trent Valley.
“This will be in addition to the slower hourly service provided by London Northwestern Railway and will provide excellent connectivity between Lichfield, London and the North.
“The weekday service to London will take around one hour 15 minutes and will stop at Tamworth and one other destination, which is likely to be Nuneaton, Rugby or Milton Keynes before arriving at Euston.
“Subject to engineering works, an hourly service is also planned for the weekend though some trains will take a little longer and have extra stops.
“We have never had such a good rail service to the south and north before from Lichfield and this marks a major improvement in connectivity. It will provide a significant economic boost to the area making it an even more attractive place to live.”
Sir Michael Fabricant
Whilst this news is welcome, what we need more is a faster service to/from Birmingham to get people off the congested A38. Considering the distance, it currently takes far too long to get to Birmingham, it’s twice as fast from Tamworth, which is just unacceptable for people living in Lichfield.
Lichfield TV to London used to be 1hr 1min. The extra 15min matters, when you commute each way and often. Rather than more services, make the existing better
It’s an expensive game, train travel today.
And it’s only going to get more expensive in the future.
Whilst I applaud the new faster trains, the sheer cost will put folks like me off using the train.
Sir Mick can it be cheaper trains like European trains ours sadly a rip-off
Perhaps privatized is the best idea
John
This might help for a while, depending on market forces, but there is an underlying problem that illustrates the unsustainability of this and most other services and facilities.
The uncomfortable reality is that the population is outgrowing all aspects of our lives. In my lifetime the UK population is half as big again as it was when I was born. An extra 25,000,000 need all the facilities, infrastructure and services than they did then. It is a three for two transformation. It is still growing and so is the need for all that it means.
Every decision has to have inbuilt recognition of this fact, including train, road and air transport and all else. It is the old quart into a pint pot conundrum.
I do not deny anyone their life, any more than I have any answers. It is, however, self evident that in another lifetime the problems will multiply in proportion to growth.
Isn’t this simply restoring what we already had a few years ago? It’s welcome, of course, but it doesn’t seem as revolutionary as they are trying to paint it.
Absolutely nothing to do with Virgin looking to restore their services on the west coast mainline