SEASON ticket rail users on West Midlands Railway (WMR) will not have to pay the upcoming national fares rise, after the operator recognised there had been a "drop in train performance".

National fares will rise by 2.8 per cent from January 2 but West Midlands Trains (WMT) has said the performance drop "since May" had led them to cut 2020 season ticket prices by three per cent to offset the rise.

Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, managing director of WMT that operates WMR services said: “In recognition of the poor performance, this compensation package is for our regular customers when they renew their season tickets will offset the national fares rise.

"We have said for some time now that performance and timekeeping since the May 2019 timetable has not been good enough.

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"The timetable added too much complexity which means that even minor delays transmit through the network.

"Some changes were made in the December 2019 timetable change to remove the complexity, and to add capacity, but the most significant changes to reintroduce simplicity will be implemented in the May 2020 timetable.

"I apologise again to customers for the poor performance and cancellations since May.

"As well as the timetable simplification in May, 2020 will also see the arrival of the first of our new trains, boosting capacity on our diesel services in the West Midlands."

Last week the Worcester News reported on West Midland mayor Andy Street's call for action by the end of January or he would demand the company, which runs services from Worcester to Birmingham, loses the franchise.

And Worcestershire MPs said they had lost their patience after broken promises to deal with overcrowding, delays and cancellations, with West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin saying it should face fines, and city MP Robin Walker saying the company should freeze their fares.

WMT has said that as it recognised the "poor performance had affected more than season ticket holders" it was also now promising to soon announce a "summer ticket promotion".

The company added it had paid out £2.5million in Delay Repay claims since May 2019.