Shropshire trains taking more of the strain with extra passengers

More than 160,000 extra passengers used railway stations in Shropshire and Mid Wales in 2010/11, new figures revealed today.

In total just over 5.02 million journeys were made in the region during the year compared to 4.86 million the year before.

More than 1.6 million people either boarded trains or ended their journeys at Shrewsbury Railway Station during 2010/11, an increase of 40,000 passengers on the previous year.

And stations on the county's border have also seen healthy increases over the same period, according to statistics provided by the Office for Rail Regulation.

Gobowen has seen a 6.5 per cent increase in users, with 205,442 – an increase of 12,500.

And in Leominster the figure has risen by more than 17,000 to 252,026 – a 7.3 per cent increase.

There are similar figures in Ludlow, where an extra 17,500 passengers helped the figure rise to 288,058, a 6.5 per cent increase. Passenger numbers in Chirk cleared the 60,000 mark thanks to an extra 4,000 passengers, a 7.2 per cent increase.

Telford Central saw 991,916 passengers pass through, an increase of 18,000. And the smallest and least used stations in Shropshire came out well – Hopton Heath station on the Heart of Wales line near Craven Arms saw the number of passengers rise from 680 to 1,074 – a 58 per cent increase.

Stations in Albrighton, Cosford, Whitchurch, Bucknell and Church Stretton also saw increases in passenger numbers.

In Mid Wales, both Newtown and Welshpool saw rises of more than 4,000 passengers. Welshpool had 105,590 passengers while Newtown had 59,597.

Mansel Williams, chairman of Shropshire, Telford and Marches Strategic Rail Group, said: "People are using railways more and it is a very sustainable form of travel. As petrol and motoring in general becomes more expensive I expect this trend to continue.

"But it is important that there is more control over fares and that a fairer system is introduced."

Chris Denham, at Network Rail, said the rise was part of a national trend and many stations across the UK were seeing year-on-year increases of about seven per cent.