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Go-Ahead is pleased to announce that its 65% owned London Midland franchise will be providing an extra 1,600 seats on peak commuter services on the London Euston end of the network. The extra seats are part of a successful bid London Midland has made to the Department for Transport (DfT) for extra trains and services as part of the Government's High Level Output Specification (HLOS).

As part of London Midland’s timetable change in December 2009, five new services will be introduced. These comprise three additional peak morning train services, serving commuters travelling from Bletchley and Watford to London Euston and two additional peak evening services serving passengers travelling from London to Watford and Milton Keynes.

The HLOS agreement also confirms an increase in the London Midland fleet by seven four-car electric trains, enabling the company to provide more 12-carriage trains at peak times.

The DfT will be providing additional subsidy to London Midland to offset the costs incurred in providing the additional capacity.

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Notes to Editors

1. The White Paper ‘Delivering a Sustainable Railway’ (July 2007) committed the DfT to fund the provision of additional capacity to accommodate forecast additional demand into key London termini and other cities. These were included in the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) which the Government and the rail industry are to meet in the Control Period 4 (CP4) from April 2009 to March 2014.

2. The extra services being provided under this agreement are:

06:33 Bletchley to London Euston (calling at Leighton Buzzard, Tring, Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, Apsley, Kings Langley, Watford Junction, Bushey and Harrow & Wealdstone)
07:57 Watford Junction to London Euston (calling at Bushey and Harrow & Wealdstone)
08:15 Watford Junction to London Euston (calling at Bushey and Harrow & Wealdstone)
17:40 London Euston to Watford Junction (calling at Harrow & Wealdstone and Bushey)
18:20 London Euston to Milton Keynes Central (calling at Harrow & Wealdstone, Watford Junction, Kings Langley, Hemel Hempsted, Berkhamsted and Bletchley)

London Midland:

London Midland operates train services through the heart of England from London south, to Birmingham in the midlands and Liverpool in the North West. London Midland began operating on November 11, 2007. 46 million passenger journeys a year are made on London Midland’s services; it manage 149 stations and operates over 1,200 services a day.

Go-Ahead Rail:

The rail operation, Govia, is 65% owned by Go-Ahead and 35% by Keolis. It is the busiest rail operation in the UK, responsible for nearly 30% of all UK passenger rail journeys through its three rail franchises: Southern (which includes the Gatwick Express), Southeastern and London Midland. In December 2009, Southeastern will launch the UK’s first high speed domestic rail service between Kent and London, significantly reducing current journey times. Southeastern is currently running preview services.

For further information about our rail franchises please visit our factsheets:
www.go-ahead.com/goahead/ir/factsheets_rail/

Go-Ahead

Go-Ahead is one of the UK's leading providers of passenger transport services operating in the bus, rail and aviation services sectors. Employing around 27,000 people across the country, around 960 million passenger journeys are undertaken on our services each year. In addition to the travelling public, customers include the Department for Transport (DfT), Transport for London (TfL), local authorities, British Airports Authority (BAA) and major airlines.