West Midlands Rail Limited
AbbreviationWMR
Formation2017
TypePublic body
PurposeConsortium of local authorities
Location
Region served
West Midlands
Chair of the Board of Directors
Cllr Roger Lawrence
AffiliationsDepartment for Transport
Websitewmre.org.uk

West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) is a British municipally owned corporation which was formed to manage rail transport policy in the West Midlands region of England. It is jointly owned by a partnership of 16 local authorities.

It should not be confused with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), the authority responsible for transport in the smaller West Midlands County.

Formation

Map of the Birmingham & the West Midlands regional rail network (2017)

WMRE was established in December 2017 as West Midlands Rail, a partnership of local transport authorities.[1] It has joint responsibility for overseeing rail services running within the region along with the Department for Transport, a central government department. In particular, it oversees the operations of the train operating company West Midlands Trains, which commenced operations on 10 December 2017.[2][3] It now uses the name West Midlands Rail Executive.

Full members of the WMRE Executive Board are Birmingham City Council, Coventry City Council, Dudley Borough Council, Herefordshire Council, Northamptonshire County Council, Sandwell Council, Solihull Council, Shropshire Council, Staffordshire Council, Telford and Wrekin Council, Walsall Council, Warwickshire County Council, Wolverhampton City Council and Worcestershire County Council. Cheshire East Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council are affiliate members.[4]

Branding

The WMRE logo consists of a hexagon formed from the letters WM and the company name in the LL Circular typeface by Lineto. This has been adopted as part of a shared branding with other transport modes in order to create a common identity for an integrated transport system for the region. Variants of the hexagonal logo are also used by West Midlands Metro, West Midlands Trains and TfWM's West Midlands Network branding on buses, taxis and roads.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ "WEST MIDLANDS FRANCHISE AGREEMENT" (PDF). The Secretary of State for Transport. 8 September 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  2. ^ London Midland loses West Midlands rail franchise BBC News 10 August 2017
  3. ^ East Japan Railway enters UK market with West Midlands franchise win Railway Gazette International 10 August 2017
  4. ^ "The Company". www.wmre.org.uk. West Midlands Rail Executive. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  5. ^ Transport, Transport for West Midlands: Transforming Public. "A brand for the West Midlands – TfWM reveals new public transport identity". Transport for West Midlands. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  6. ^ "WM Network Brand Guidelines". WMCA Media Assets. West Midlands Combined Authority. Archived from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.

External links


Passenger transport executives in the United Kingdom
Categories