Rail is a big success story in the West Midlands and the network is a key central hub for both national and regional services.

Patronage has increased by 44% since privatisation (compared to a national average of 34%) and the regional network is also the crossroads of many principal national routes with over 1,300 trains a day. Continual increases in patronage over the last five years meant numbers hit an all time high in 2006 with 30 million people using the West Midlands rail network.

One in five peak commuters into Birmingham use rail - a high figure when compared to cities such as Manchester and Newcastle - and New Street currently handles around 75% of the rail traffic in central Birmingham, catering for 120,000 passengers every day, twice what it was originally designed for.

Rail is a vital component in the £7.2 million 'Network West Midlands' project connects and clearly identifies the complete network of bus, rail and Metro services that are easily accessible to most people in the West Midlands.

As part of the project, £3 million worth of technology in the form of Real Time Information at all Centro-supported rail stations is being installed to make passenger information easily available. Improved information and signage has also been placed across the rail network.