Plans for the Midlands Rail Hub have received a boost after Ministers released an initial £123m funding injection to increase services between Birmingham and Cardiff, Bristol, Cheltenham, and Worcester.

A spokesperson for Transport for the East Midlands, said: “Whilst we welcome this funding, there must also be investment to improve rail services between the West Midlands and Derby, Leicester, and Nottingham.

“Existing services from the East Midlands to Birmingham are slow and infrequent and there are no direct trains to Coventry at all.

“The East Midlands continues to receive the lowest level of transport funding per head of any UK region or nation and has the highest level of car dependency in the country.”