Passenger groups unhappy with replacement trains

Feb 2 2007 By Ben Hurst, Birmingham Mail

THEY have been branded as a "dirty, decrepit disgrace" and transport leaders recently spent £1.3 million on doing them up.

Now the Midlands is going to lose the Class 150 Sprinter trains.

But passenger groups want to keep them, because they fear the replacements are even worse.

The ten trains currently operating on the Solihull and Walsall lines into Birmingham New Street will be transferred to Arriva Trains Wales.

It is likely that they will be replaced by Class 158 and Class 170 trains which are currently used on long-distance routes.

Alan Bevan, of pressure group Rail Future, said: "We are most concerned that we are going to lose these ten units.

"It is just absolutely crucial that there is a replacement to allow services to be maintained.

"But the Class 158 and 170 are more suitable for long distances, not the stop-starts of local stations.

"They don't have the wide doors to cope with large groups of commuters getting on at the same time, meaning boarding takes longer, and also don't accelerate as fast, which would all lead to slower journey times."

A spokesman for Centro-PTA, the region's public transport coordinator, said: "There are still a number of issues with both the Department for Transport and whoever the successful bidder for the franchise is."

The current Class 150s operated by Central Trains had £1.3 million spent on them, including more than £700,000 from public funds, to spruce up the interiors, and the work only finished last year.