Fears for future of rail link

Fear was growing today that a direct rail link from Wellington to London could be axed just months after it was launched.

Members of Wellington Town Council fought to get Wrexham & Shropshire train services to stop at the market town on their way to the capital.

But councillors were forced to contact the train company after rumours spread that the timetabled stops at Wellington would be reduced or axed.

Andy Hamilton, managing director of the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway Company, which runs the services under the Wrexham & Shropshire brand, wrote to the council saying "as is often the case with rumours there is an element of truth and lots of embellishment".

He said passenger levels to and from London had been "lower than we had anticipated at Wellington" and the company was "experiencing a number of issues relating to people seeking to travel without tickets from Wellington to Telford Central and vice versa".

He said the fare dodgers were causing a "bad experience" for passengers and staff and had even caused delays, particularly on the 4.21pm weekday service from Wellington.

He also admitted, due to the "nature and layout of the platforms" at Wellington, it took longer for trains to stop there than at Telford or Cosford – a station which, Mr Hamilton said, the firm was now promoting as a "potential park and ride venue for our trains".

Although he said the Cosford promotion was not intended to move rail users from Wellington or Telford, the company had recognised both of the borough station car parks, especially Well-ington, were full early in the day.

Mr Hamilton said: "We are confident any customers choosing to change their habits and park at Cosford are merely creating a potential space at Wellington or Telford for another passenger for whom these stations are more convenient than Cosford."

But town councillors said they feared this could mean the end of services stopping in Wellington.

Councillor Gary Davies, speaking at a council meeting yesterday, said: "Directing people to Cosford is bad news for us. The railway authority knows we have a car parking problem and it will get worse when we lose 43 car parking spaces to the bus station."

Councillor Dorothy Roberts said people were often unable to book on-line tickets from Wellington and asked whether the railway chiefs had considered the number of people who instead booked from Telford but got on at Wellington.

By Kirsty Smallman