Virgin confident that Shrewsbury to London rail link is on track
Plans to introduce a long-awaited direct rail link between Shrewsbury and London are still on track for the end of this year – despite delays in Government authorisation for the project, Virgin Trains said today.
Virgin is looking to introduce the direct link between Shropshire and the capital in December after being handed the running of the West Coast Main Line on an interim basis.
They have applied for authorisation to introduce the route, but are still waiting on Department for Transport approval.
Sarah Fernandes, a spokesman for Virgin Trains, said the company is still on course to introduce the route by December.
She said: "We are quite confident it may go the way we want but they are still to make a final decision. If the decision comes in the next couple of weeks it is workable."
Under the proposals, two trains would run each way between Shrewsbury and London every day, stopping at Wellington and Telford and passing through Stafford.
Mondays to Saturdays an early morning and mid-afternoon departure from Shrewsbury are part of the plans, while trains leaving London are planned for late morning and early evening. On Sundays there would only be one train each way.
As the track is not electrified, they would need to run as diesel trains – which had also been the intention of First Group, had it been allowed to keep the West Coast franchise amid confusion over the bidding process last year.
The current plans are the latest proposals for a direct rail link between the county and the capital following the fiasco over the West Coast franchise.
Virgin Trains had lost out to FirstGroup for a new West Coast franchise. But the deal was abandoned, resulting in Virgin and the DfT reaching a deal to run the franchise until November 2014.
The new West Coast franchise will not start until April 2017.
