Sir Gavin Williamson has demanded that cuts to train services between Stafford and Birmingham be urgently addressed and reversed.
Sir Gavin arranged a meeting with West Midlands Railway to challenge plans to withdraw the Birmingham-Stafford section of the Birmingham-Stoke-Crewe service, and will continue to push for the retention of this service for the people of Staffordshire, who don’t deserve such an imposition on their mobility, particularly as the south of the country is levelling up with HS2. The new plans would improve the journey times to London Euston from Birmingham, but at the expense of direct connectivity between Stoke, Stone and the West Midlands. Sir Gavin arranged the meeting in order to campaign for local services, and is determined to keep applying pressure until West Midlands Railway reverse their decision.
Sir Gavin said: “It is all very well to improve the connections between Birmingham and London, but to do it at the expense of regional connections would be to put strain upon other regional transport services and weaken the ties between the great cities of Staffordshire. I’m ardent in the belief that cancelling HS2 was the right call, as I fully believe that further investment and development in our regional services will be a far more beneficial use of tax-payer money. However, I will not stand for a reduction in local services. We want and need to have good services running between Stone and Birmingham and that is what I will keep fighting for.”
