The new franchise operator of rails services across Birmingham and the West Midlands has announced a £680 million contract to build 107 new trains.

West Midlands Trains has awarded the tender to Bombardier Trains and Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF).

A total of 413 carriages will be built with financing led by Infracapital and Deutsche Asset Management and this deal forms part of a planned £1 billion investment into the franchise.

West Midlands Trains is a joint venture between Dutch firm Abellio, East Japan Railway Company and Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co which was awarded a nine-year tenure in August.

It will take over the West Midlands franchise on December 10 from incumbent operator London Midland to run routes such as the Cross City line between Redditch and Lichfield via New Street station.

CGI of how trains operating only in the West Midlands could look with 'West Midlands Railway' branding
CGI of how trains operating only in the West Midlands could look with 'West Midlands Railway' branding

Other services covered by the franchise go between London and the West Midlands and Birmingham and the North West.

The new trains will provide space for an extra 85,000 passengers on rush-hour services into Birmingham and London with air conditioning, free Wi-Fi and in-seat power sockets provided as standard.

Bombardier, which is headquartered in Berlin, will produce 333 electric carriages made up of 90mph trains for metro services and 110mph trains for outer suburban and long-distance configurations.

They will be built at Bombardier's facility in Derby.

CAF, which is based in Beasain, northern Spain, will produce 80 diesel carriages for journeys to the towns and cities around Birmingham but it not known at this stage where they will be manufactured.

Abellio UK's managing director Dominic Booth said: "We are delighted to award this work to Bombardier and CAF, which means we are now overseeing £3 billion of investment into 1,700 new carriages across all our franchises.

"It is great news that so many of these trains will be produced in the UK.

"As a company, we are committed to working with the government to strengthen the British economy and deliver thousands of high-quality jobs over the coming years."