5 reasons why I travel with LondonMidland and 5 why you might not...

On Tuesday, I used the LondonMidland service between Birmingham New Street and London Euston to spend the afternoon in London. Here's my top five reasons for using the company...

1. The Fares: LondonMidland offer a wide-range of fares, which combined with the generous off-peak restrictions (no evening peak from Euston), mean that travelling with them is almost always cheaper than travelling with Chiltern Railways and, of course, many times cheaper than travelling with Virgin Trains.
2. The Promotions: on top of the already low fares, LondonMidland has led the way in using the online booking system to offer innovative marketing offers. Currently, the company is offering 29% off many fares in celebration of Team GB's success.
3. The Service: outside peak times, LondonMidland offers a 20 minute interval service between Birmingham and London
4. The Trains: the Desiro trains used by the company ride well (certainly better than Pendolinos) and are relatively spacious.
5. The Twitter feed: a key strength of LondonMidland is the engagement that the company has with its customers through its use of Twitter. Virtually 24/7, issues are generally resolved quickly and efficiently.

Of course, there are at least five reasons why LondonMidland might not make the grade for you...

1. Northampton: alas, everything revolves around this town in terms of the Birmingham to London service. It has to be said that sitting at this station for between 4 and 16 minutes does not add to the pleasure of the journey.
2. Journey times: at 2hrs 14mins to 2hrs 24mins Birmingham to London, the company's services are slow. Strangely, coming back from London in the evening peak sees journey times reduced to a shade over 2hrs
3. Commuters: when all is said and done, LondonMidland is primarily in the business of moving commuters to and from the big cities which it serves. Thus, peak trains can be long (up to 12 carriages from Euston with the Birmingham portion at the far end) and can be mobbed...
4. Facilities: the services lack WiFi, refreshments, and power points (though these are found in First Class). Table provision is rather sparse too
5. Punctuality: although I have been rarely affected, LondonMidland do use the crowded West Coast Mainline and are thus at the mercy of events often outside the company's control Performance figures overall hover around the 90% mark...