Expiry of The Central Franchise
In October 2004, the Department for Transport unveiled plans designed to streamline rail franchises which included the abolition of the Central Trains franchise and the transfer of its services to other operators. It was announced that the franchise would end in April 2007, although there was a later extension until November 2007).
On 11 November 2007, Central Trains ceased to exist and its services transferred to three new train operating companies:
- Local and urban services around the West Midlands were merged with former Silverlink services to form London Midland
- The Liverpool - Nottingham - Norwich service (which had been threatened with a split) and local trains in the East Midlands were combined with Midland Mainline services to form East Midlands Trains
- Other primary express and Citylink services became the responsibility of Cross Country Trains
Read more about this topic: Central Trains
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