A rail operator which runs key commuter services across the West Midlands as well as routes to the capital and North West will be nationalised.
West Midlands Trains will come under public ownership from February 1 next year, the Department for Transport has confirmed.
The company has two brands - West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway.
The former runs local services across Birmingham, the Black Country and wider region including the key Cross City line between north Worcestershire and Lichfield via University of Birmingham, New Street and Sutton Coldfield.
It also serves stations in Shropshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire.
London Northwestern Railway runs a host of longer services connecting London, the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Crewe and Liverpool as well as local routes in the South East.
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West Midlands Trains, which is headquartered in Birmingham's Colmore Business District, said in a statement that it was "committed to ensuring a smooth transition to public ownership".
It added that customers would not see an impact on its services, timetables nor stations and tickets and T&Cs were unaffected.
Managing director Ian McConnell said: "I am extremely proud of what we have achieved under this franchise, delivering a £1 billion investment in two new train fleets and delivering significantly improved performance which has transformed rail travel for millions of customers.
"As we transition to a publicly owned railway, our focus remains on delivering an outstanding service for our passengers."
Railfuture is a voluntary, independent organisation campaigning for better services for passengers and freight.
West Midlands spokesman Colin Major said: "Railfuture West Midlands’ priority is that whoever runs the trains must deliver a consistent and reliable service regardless of the ownership of the operator.
"Currently, the oversight of West Midlands Railway services is in the hands of the West Midlands Rail Executive which has provided valuable local knowledge to the provision of services and new stations.
"We are fearful that central control by civil servants in London, who have no local knowledge, or the proposed national model of oversight by the mayor will focus too much on the needs of the West Midlands Combined Authority rather than surrounding counties and destroy the excellent work by the rail executive to provide integrated services across the region."
Jerome Mayhew is the Conservative's shadow transport minister and said he was concerned about how future rail services would be funded.
He posted on social media: "West Midlands Trains invested £1 billion in 100 brand new trains when in private ownership. Now, the Government has decided to nationalise it.
"Any future new trains will be at the expense of schools or hospitals. This is ideology winning over practicality."
- Dutch operator Abellio and Japanese firms JR East and Mitsui & Co - which together won the right to operate the 'West Midlands franchise' on a nine-year contract from 2017.
It replaced the old London Midlands operator which ran the services for a decade from 2007.
West Midlands Trains says that, since it commenced operations, more than 100 new trains have been introduced to the network.
In 2022, the º£½ÇÊÓƵ arm of Abellio announced a management buyout from its state-owned Dutch parent company.
The deal was completed the following March and brought West Midlands Trains, along with Merseyrail, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia and 50 routes under Abellio Bus London, into º£½ÇÊÓƵ ownership. The company also changed its name to Transport º£½ÇÊÓƵ Group.
Transport Focus is the independent watchdog for transport users which releases regular customer satisfaction reports.
Its most recent Rail User Survey, published in June, placed West Midlands Railway eighth and London Northwestern Railway 13th out of 22 companies for overall passenger satisfaction.
Among the findings, both West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway received 30 complaints per 100,000 journeys against an industry average of 37.
The switch to government control is part of the Department for Transport's ongoing 'Public Ownership Programme'.
In November, the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 received Royal Assent, allowing passenger train operators with contracts with the DfT to be brought into public ownership.
Other local services in the programme include Chiltern which operates routes between Birmingham Moor Street, Solihull, Warwickshire and London Marylebone.
Avanti West Coast runs the inter-city service between London Euston, the West Midlands, North West and Scotland while CrossCountry operates services between the south coast, West and East Midlands, Manchester and North East.
No dates for these services coming under public ownership have yet been announced.
