The West Midlands' top transport councillor is seeking meetings with every MP in the conurbation to persuade them to take transport more seriously.
In the past, there have been conflicts between local and national politicians with the former accusing the latter of failing the region when it comes to influencing Government for much-needed transport cash.
Passenger Transport Authority chairman Coun Gary Clarke has set aside £100,000 in the authority's budget for Westminster lobbying and wants to go eyeball-to-eyeball with all 29 West Midlands MPs in the PTA area to stress the need for an united front on transport.
He said: "We have budgeted £100,000 for lobbying because we really believe this fight has to be fought better than before."
Coun Clarke's predecessor as chair of the PTA, Richard Worrall, became frustrated with the lack of transport influence being exerted on the Government by local MPs.
Earlier this year, the Strategic Rail Authority published its Route Utilisation Strategy for the region, which advocated taking resources from lesser used lines to bolster the busy Birmingham peak times.
However, it sparked controversy by advocating an increase in fares to price-off demand for morning rush hour trains and also proposed mothballing lines, such as Walsall to Wolverhampton.
Coun Clarke (Con Streetly) said he again found some MPs unhelpful. "When the RUS came out I phoned one or two MPs, who shall remain nameless, to stress some of the real problems with the document.
"They just were not interested. That is simply not good enough."
The £350 million Birmingham City Council-Network Rail revamp of New Street Station still requires about £100 million investment from Government, and future light rail lines from the city centre to Quinton, Great Barr, Eastside and the Birmingham Airport/NEC complex will also need strong advocacy to secure central government funds. In 2003, The Birmingham Post revealed fewer than half of the West Midlands' Labour MPs attended an important meeting with Transport Secretary Alistair Darling to discuss the region's crucial transport problems.
Of the 28 MPs contacted, only four were at the gathering.
Explanations from those who did not turn up included other Parliamentary business or meetings to attend. At the time, a senior transport industry source described the region's MPs as "a million miles away from a cohesive, effective, lobbying force".
