Shropshire to London direct rail link back on track

MPs, business leaders and rail user groups have all lobbied the Government and Network Rail since plans to restore the link were blocked in June.

Train operator Virgin had originally expected to have a direct link to the capital in place by next month, before Network Rail claimed it could not accommodate any more trains on the overcrowded West Coast Mainline.

Despite appeals from MPs and the business community, the Office of Rail Regulation backed Network Rail's stance, sparking the Shropshire Star campaign and a petition which, to date, has been signed by more than 3,000 people.

Shropshire's MPs, along with Montgomeryshire's Glyn Davies, met Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin over the issue and sent a joint letter to the Office of Rail Regulation asking for a solution to be found.

Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski also raised the issue with David Cameron during Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons.

Marches LEP chairman Graham Wynn chaired a meeting between Virgin and Network Rail in July in the hope of finding a solution to the impasse which prevented the first attempts at reinstating the link.

And he also raised the issue directly with the Prime Minister the same month, warning him that HS2 would come too late to have an impact on the county.

So he was delighted to hear that the direct rail link will be introduced next year.

He said: "This is fantastic news for Shropshire as a whole and also for the business communities of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, and for our major exhibition and conferencing centre the TIC.

"This will help us bring more events into Shropshire, where we have the seventh biggest conference centre in the UK.

"This aspect of connectivity is one of the factors which has worked against us as a destination."

However, Mr Wynn added: "This is a start, but what we have got to ensure is that we get the service that meets the needs of the business community. But the door has been opened and I would like to see us build on this."

Peter Bettis, president of Shrewsbury Business Chamber, said: "This is great news for the people of Shrewsbury and the surrounding area and hopefully means we can do more business.

"This isn't just about getting people to London, it is about getting people the other way. If you can say to your customers they can pop on a train and you will pick them up at the station, that can only be a good thing. This is great for business not just in Shrewsbury but also for Telford, which will also benefit."

Kate Callis, assistant director of development, business and employment at Telford & Wrekin Council, added: "It has been well worth all the effort. In terms of promoting the links and raising Telford's profile, this is great news.

"We are centrally located, but not having that link has been a problem for us.

"Unfortunately there's still a huge amount of economic activity in the South East, so our biggest barrier is getting people to Telford, getting people here and more effectively selling Telford's message.

"We have a huge asset base, but people see it as peripheral to the West Midlands when it really isn't, it's 10 minutes from the M6. This opens up the country to Telford, and is really important for our Invest in Telford campaign."

Shropshire has been without a direct rail link since train company Wrexham & Shropshire, which ran services to Marylebone, went out of business in January 2011.

The company was launched in a blaze of publicity in 2008. Before that, Shropshire had been without a direct link since the Virgin Trains service ended in 1999.

Despite huge customer satisfaction ratings the service suffered from being unable to get commuters, particularly business leaders, to London in time for morning meetings and a review concluded it would never be profitable, signalling its end.

The battle for a replacement direct service intensified following the fiasco over the West Coast Mainline franchise last year.

Virgin Trains had lost the franchise to FirstGroup, which announced its own plans for a direct link between Shropshire and London.

But the deal was abandoned in October last year, resulting in Virgin and the DfT reaching a deal to run the franchise until November 2014.

Mistakes in the West Coast process came to light after Virgin Trains launched a legal challenge against the decision to award the £5 billion franchise to FirstGroup.

The Public Accounts Committee said there had been a "complete lack of common sense" in the Department for Transport's handling of the deal and warned the cost to taxpayers would be "£50 million at the very least" and could be "very much larger".

Once Virgin was awarded the interim contract, moves were put in place to restore the direct link to Shropshire.

The plan had been to have a service running by December, but in June Network Rail blocked the plans, saying it could not accommodate more trains.

Network Rail said there were twice as many trains using the West Coast Main Line as a decade ago and, just like a busy motorway during rush hour, more trains meant that if something went wrong, the knock-on effects could be significant.

The company said it had acknowledged that performance on the line was not good enough and adding more services would mean "a trade off with punctuality" and a "significant negative impact on performance for the thousands of other passenger and freight services that rely on this route every day".

But the Office of Rail Regulation says that Virgin and Network Rail have worked together and have now "found an off-peak direct path to/from Shrewsbury".

Shropshire Council leader Keith Barrow said the announcement was great news for the county and the surrounding regions. He said: "We have put a huge amount of time and effort into this and this will be a huge boom for Shropshire in terms of both business and tourism.

"It is a great start and hopefully on the back of this we can work to get even more services. Not having a direct rail link does not help to sell Shropshire, so this is a very big thing for us.

"The pleasing thing for me is that the meetings I have been to have been attended by Labour MPs in Wrexham and Clwyd and by Labour and Conservative MPs in Shropshire. Everybody has worked together across party lines and across borders on this."

Councillor Kuldip Sahota, Telford & Wrekin Council leader, said he was "absolutely delighted" with the news that a direct service would now return to the region.

He said: "Having a direct link is great news for Telford and Wrekin's residents and business community.

"A major selling point of our Invest In Telford campaign is the fantastic transport links that we have but one obvious thing that we haven't currently got is a direct link by rail to the capital.

"This news will only make Telford even more marketable and attractive for businesses as we continue to promote our efforts to increase growth, create jobs and help the local economy to expand."

Shropshire councillor Mansel Williams, who is also chairman of the Shropshire Telford Marches Strategic Rail Group, said he welcomed the announcement. He said: "This has got to be good news. It is a step in the right direction and people like me must surely welcome it.

"It will be very interesting now to find out the exact details of the route and the timetable.

"The business community will make or break this service, so the times will be interesting.

"If the route is to Stafford, which is what was originally proposed, then it will be of interest to Telford & Wrekin, which is crucial as that is where the big business growth area is.

"This is definitely a move in the right direction. Anything like this starting in Shrewsbury demonstrates what an important railway hub the town potentially is.

"I very much welcome it."

Report by David Burrows and Thom Kennedy

• Star comment: More still needs to be done