Virgin still hopeful Shropshire to London rail link bid is on track
Virgin Trains today announced it has submitted an official bid to the Office of Rail Regulation for the restoration of a direct rail link from Shropshire to London – and re-stated the intention that trains will be on the tracks by December.
The submission is an important step to the setting-up of the rail services, with approval from the ORR the final hurdle to face.
A Virgin spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that an application has been submitted to the Office of Rail Regulation.
"The process normally takes around four weeks unless there are any problems or queries they need to come back to us with.
"The date of December is certainly one we are still looking at for trains to be running from Shropshire to London again."
Brian Clarke, of the Office of Rail Regulation, said the body had not yet received the application.
"We cannot really say anything until we have received it and we know what is being proposed," he added.
The Shropshire Star has campaigned for the direct link, organising a petition that was presented in the Commons.
The new service will be timetabled so that people will be able to take a day trip to London.
On a visit to the county in June, rail minister Stephen Hammond spoke in favour of restoring the direct link and said he was "very hopeful" it would get the necessary sign-off from the ORR.
Under the plans, Shrewsbury would have two services in each direction Monday to Saturday and one service in each direction on Sunday. All services will also run through Telford Central and Wellington train stations.
Monday to Saturday services would leave Shrewsbury at 6.39am and 3.24pm, with return services leaving London Euston at 10.23am and 6.23pm. On Sunday, a single service will leave Shrewsbury at 3.20pm and return from London at 7pm.
As part of the deal, Virgin said there would be "significant improvements" for customers with the introduction of free superfast WiFi, more seats and new services.
Virgin Trains previously lost out to FirstGroup in the battle for a new 13-year West Coast franchise, but the process was scrapped by the Department for Transport due to errors in the bidding process. It resulted in a temporary deal allowing Virgin to run the West Coast service.
