Train passengers have been promised a £10 million-plus package of travel improvements in a bid to tempt more commuters from road to rail.
The pledge included:
An £8.5 million pot for park and ride schemes at Longbridge, Yardley Wood, Rowley Regis, Four Oaks, Kings Norton and Stourbridge Junction stations.
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A £1.2 million plan to fit lifts at Acocks Green station – where passengers must currently negotiate 34 steps from the ticket office.
A promise to push for better services on the Chase Line from Birmingham to Rugeley in Staffordshire, via Walsall.
The plans, which also featured a pilot smart ticketing system and extra CCTV coverage, were contained in a renewed agreement between transport authority Centro and rail firm London Midland.
The travel company suffered a huge backlash over a driver shortage at the end of last year, which saw almost 1,000 trains cancelled or delayed between last October and December.
But the new two-year deal includes almost 50 commitments in a bid to improve services until the end of the company’s franchise to operate local services.
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The bulk of the cash is being found by Centro, with London Midland and the Department for Transport also contributing.
Centro chairman Coun John McNicholas said: “We are delighted to be signing a new agreement that will see us work together to continue to create a more user friendly, accessible railway and contribute to greater standards of personal mobility.”
Patrick Verwer, London Midland managing director, said: “We are committed to improving services for our passengers and this agreement demonstrates a shared aspiration to improve public transport across the West Midlands.