The region's rail network is at the heart of the national rail network and is strongly focused on serving Birmingham and the West Midlands metropolitan area. There are over 60 million passenger journeys each year on the network, which serves 154 stations.

The region also handles considerable freight flows and has over 30 freight terminals.

The rail routes in the West Midlands carry a diverse range of traffic and range from the largely 4-track West Coast Main Line to single track rural lines. Most routes, however, are double track. The commuter rail network around Birmingham is especially busy, with services running every 10 minutes on the busiest routes.

For most other main corridors there are at least two trains per hour, although smaller rural stations can receive fewer trains.

Rail is a big success story in the West Midlands with patronage increasing by over 50% since privatisation, well above the national average, with over 1,300 trains a day. Continual increases in patronage over the last five years meant numbers hit an all time high in 2008 with over 35 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 successfully delivered 'Network West Midlands' project which 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, £4.5 million worth of technology in the form of Real Time Information at all Centro-supported rail stations has been installed to make passenger information easily available. Improved information and signage has also been placed across the rail network.