Abbreviation | WMR |
---|---|
Formation | 2017 |
Type | Public body |
Purpose | Consortium of local authorities |
Location |
|
Region served | West Midlands |
Chair of the Board of Directors | Cllr Roger Lawrence |
Affiliations | Department for Transport |
Website | wmre.org.uk |
West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) is a British municipally owned corporation which was formed to manage rail transport policy in the West Midlands region of England. It is jointly owned by a partnership of 16 local authorities.
It should not be confused with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), the authority responsible for transport in the smaller West Midlands County.
WMRE was established in December 2017 as West Midlands Rail, a partnership of local transport authorities. [1] It has joint responsibility for overseeing rail services running within the region along with the Department for Transport, a central government department. In particular, it oversees the operations of the train operating company West Midlands Trains, which commenced operations on 10 December 2017. [2] [3] It now uses the name West Midlands Rail Executive.
Full members of the WMRE Executive Board are Birmingham City Council, Coventry City Council, Dudley Borough Council, Herefordshire Council, Northamptonshire County Council, Sandwell Council, Solihull Council, Shropshire Council, Staffordshire Council, Telford and Wrekin Council, Walsall Council, Warwickshire County Council, Wolverhampton City Council and Worcestershire County Council. Cheshire East Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council are affiliate members. [4]
The WMRE logo consists of a hexagon formed from the letters WM and the company name in the LL Circular typeface by Lineto. This has been adopted as part of a shared branding with other transport modes in order to create a common identity for an integrated transport system for the region. Variants of the hexgonal logo are also used by West Midlands Metro, West Midlands Trains and TfWM's West Midlands Network branding on buses, taxis and roads. [5] [6]
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Germany, Bahrain, and Morocco and long-distance coach services across Europe. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
The West Midlands Metro is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. Opened on 30 May 1999, it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via the towns of Bilston, West Bromwich and Wednesbury, running on a mixture of reopened disused railway line and on-street running in urban areas. The line originally terminated at Birmingham Snow Hill station but, with extensions opened in 2015, 2019 and 2022, now runs via Birmingham city centre to terminate at Edgbaston. A further extension in Wolverhampton was scheduled to open in 2022, but has been pushed back to 2023.
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National Express Midland Metro operated the Midland Metro tram system between Birmingham and Wolverhampton in England from May 1999 until June 2018. It was a subsidiary of National Express, who also owned the local bus company National Express West Midlands. The National Express Midland Metro brand name and logo were not carried on trams and on most publicity, just 'The Metro' branding with the exception of printed timetables.
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