West Midlands Trains is being forced to invest £20 million in failing commuter services after the Government stepped in following months of ‘woeful’ performance.

And West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin welcomed the intervention by the Department for Transport after she raised local concerns with it and the Prime Minister during his weekly question session.

The Department has outlined a series of measures that the rail company must adopt including rail season ticket discounts, hiring more train drivers and delivering more timetable improvements.

The Department issued a formal warning to the company about its poor performance. Harriett first raised her concerns about the company at the end of last summer and has joined West Midlands Mayor Andy Street in calling for punitive action to force the company to improve.

Harriett said: “The rail company’s performance over the last part of last year was truly woeful and elected politicians have been absolutely clear that West Midlands Trains must improve.

“I am pleased that the Government has taken this definitive action and put the company on formal notice that it must invest money on delivering immediate improvements.

“With a new managing director now in place, I hope that we will see early action very soon. I plan to meet with him as soon as possible to discuss my constituents concerns and I hope we will all see better commuter rail services in the coming weeks and months.”