Star comment: Success of Shropshire to London link is cause for celebration

It is now a year since Shropshire was given what it was crying out for. And the campaign has been triumphantly vindicated.

Passenger numbers have exceeded all expectations. See, it is what we said all along. Give us the trains and give us a sensible timetable so that they depart at times that are practical for travellers, and Salopians will do their bit and use the service.

That was not a given. What would have been worse than the campaign failing outright would have been a successful campaign followed by an apathetic response by Shropshire rail travellers, with the upshot that the service was quickly withdrawn because too few people were using it. Had that happened, it is hard to see what the way back would have been for Shropshire as the case of any future campaigners would have been undermined by the lack of support that really matters.

Shropshire won the argument because the county presented a united front, with MPs, businesses and ordinary people all on board and we, the Shropshire Star, doing our bit to ensure that this was one squeaky wheel that was being heard in high places.

After the release of the first annual figures, there is cause for self-congratulation but it should be kept brief. On this first anniversary, more than 80,000 passengers have travelled from Shropshire to London using the new direct rail service and they have made a substantial contribution to the overall increase in customers travelling from Shropshire to the capital – of course, not all travellers use the direct link.

Over the year to date, a total of 195,000 people have travelled from Shrewsbury, Wellington and Telford to the capital, an increase of 19 per cent compared to a year ago.

These figures look great, but the person that we need to please is the owner of Virgin, Sir Richard Branson. And happily, he is more than happy.

"The response from Shrewsbury, Wellington and Telford has exceeded all expectations," says Sir Richard in a video message to passengers to mark the one-year milestone.

"We've been blown away by your support."

To take stock now, we have something on which to build. Quite often that is a euphemism for saying things cannot get any worse, but in this case it really is an impressive foundation, and a solid one too, as the Salopians making these journeys cannot all be making a gesture which they hope will go down well with Sir Richard, but must be "real" customers who are using the service because it fits in with what they want from the rail service.

That means that this is a genuine and sustainable increase in passenger traffic, which will give Virgin confidence for the future – and give Salopians the confidence to knock on the door and ask, like Oliver Twist, for more.

Having realised one dream, there are other dreams to be had.

Not all Shropshire is benefiting from the direct service. North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson wants it extended to Gobowen, which would mean the folk of the Oswestry area getting connected. These first-year figures will give a lot of ammunition in making the case for a Gobowen and Wrexham link-up.

Shropshire is currently getting a double benefit. According to Virgin, while many of the passengers are business commuters travelling to London, a growing number are travelling the other way, bringing valuable business into the county.

Shropshire gets so many knockbacks on the transport front that when something as good as this comes along, it is a little difficult to believe it.

It has been an encouraging first year. Let's keep it up. There can be no turning back now.