Richard Branson in pledge on Shropshire rail link

He was speaking at the launch of Virgin's Arrive Awesome campaign in London yesterday where he said rail passengers in Shropshire will benefit from improved services in the next 12 months.

It comes as a formal application has been submitted to the Office of Rail Regulation for the restoration of a direct rail link from Shropshire.

Approval from the rail regulator is the final hurdle needed to clear before Virgin Trains can put wheels on tracks.

Bosses envisage there being no problems and still hope trains will be up and running between Shrewsbury and London by the end of the year.

The application is to extend current services to and from Shrewsbury by changing the route of trains rather than introducing additional trains on the very busy south end of the west coast main line.

Mr Branson speaking at the launch of the Arrive Awesome campaign in London said extra seats and new services to Shrewsbury were being added in the next 12 months.

He said: "As I arrived this morning, I was asked whether we put our staff or our customers first.

"I'm a firm believer that by putting your staff first, they will put your customers first.

"Over the last 17 years there has been so much talk of bids and franchise battles that I've rarely had the opportunity to talk about the huge achievements of our team at Virgin Trains and how their dedication, loyalty and vision have transformed train travel in the UK."

A formal application has been submitted to the Office of Rail Regulation for the restoration of the direct rail link from Shropshire to London.

Bosses hope trains will be up and running between Shrewsbury and London by the end of the year.

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 stops at Wellington and Telford Central, with return services leaving London Euston at 10.23am and 6.23pm. On Sunday, a single service will leave Shrewsbury at 3.20pm, returning at 7pm.

As part of the deal, Virgin said there would be "significant improvements" for customers with the introduction of free superfast Wi-Fi.

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.