West Midlands rail timetable changes and how they affect you

A revamp of train timetables comes into effect across the West Midlands this Sunday, with these latest schedules operating until 12 December.

Rail timetables are changed twice a year and passengers are being urged to check the updated schedules before travelling.

For the first time, people will be able to travel directly between Walsall and London Euston on weekdays on London Northwestern Railway.

There will be a direct service each way, one starting from Walsall at 05:46 and the other, the 18:26 Euston to Birmingham New Street, will arrive at Walsall at 21:16.

Under Sunday's new timetable, the company will also have two extra later services between New Street and Liverpool Lime Street on Saturdays.

West Midlands Railway's weekday 05:28 New Street to Lichfield Trent Valley Cross City service will call at more stations and some weekend morning services are being introduced.

CrossCountry Trains will have another PM peak service calling at Crewe on weekdays and the company has also highlighted extra journeys between Reading and Newcastle in the north-east.

Transport for Wales' New Street to north Wales services every two hours, including from Birmingham International, will operate to and from Llandudno Junction, not Holyhead, under the changes.

While Avanti West Coast's new services include the 20:47 New Street to Euston on weekdays.

Changes have been summarised on the National Rail website.

The National Rail timetable is changed in May and December.

New timetables must be published 12 weeks in advance, the Office of Rail and Road said.

The regulator added that each train and freight company develops the timetable it would like to run and Network Rail coordinates the timetables and produces a single national one.

No, this is just about the timetables although ticket prices are never far away from most train passengers' minds.

In terms of those, the government announced in November that rail fares in England were to be frozen this year.

The freeze, until March 2027 applies to regulated fares, which includes season tickets and off-peak returns, it stated.The announcement only applied to services run by England-based train operating companies.

Train operators are free to set prices for unregulated fares.

Jonny Wiseman, from operator West Midlands Railway, said: "While most of our changes are relatively minor, I'd encourage passengers to check their travel times in case they are different to what they're used to."

Rail companies operating in the region have information on their websites:

• Avanti West Coast, which said it would bring in a small number of services across its Liverpool, Glasgow, Birmingham and Chester routes
• CrossCountry, with the company stating it had made changes "based on clear customer needs"
• London Northwestern Railway
• Transport for Wales
• West Midlands Railway

National Rail said planned timetables were subject to change and advised people to use its journey planner.

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