Extra seats which have been introduced on London Midland rail services between Shrewsbury and Birmingham will go a ‘considerable way’ to addressing overcrowding issues for commuters, bosses vowed today.

The new seats and improved journey times have been introduced on the trains, which will stop at Telford and Wellington.

The changes were introduced yesterday by London Midland and will see an extra 153 seats available to passengers using the service every day.

Across the Midlands as a whole an extra 2,308 extra seats have been made available on its routes.

The 05.28 Shrewsbury to Birmingham New Street is being retimed to depart at 05.26 and will no longer stop at stations between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street.

The changes mean the service will arrive at New Street at 06.32, 11 minutes earlier than it had done.

London Midland has also launched a new 06.19 Wolverhampton to Birmingham service with four coaches, calling at all stations.

Alex Hynes, a spokesman for London Midland, said: “Following the recent introduction of our brand new £93m train fleet on the Snow Hill line these changes will go a considerable way to addressing overcrowding on several routes across the Midlands.

“Adding the extra capacity of 2,308 new seats throughout our network will mean an improvement in the quality of travel for of our customers.”

Elsewhere there will be a new train service leaving Stratford-on-Avon at 21.36 and running non-stop to Birmingham Moor Street and then Snow Hill.

A higher frequency service on the cross city line is also being introduced with shorter journey times between Lichfield and Redditch. On weekdays the 06.21 Rugeley to Birmingham service will start at Walsall while the 07.39 Hednesford to Birmingham will start at Walsall.

In both cases there be another train about 15 minutes later which will have an extra coach added.

For further information visit the website www.londonmidland.com/timetables