Direct Shropshire to London rail link battle to go on

It comes as the Office of Rail Regulation confirmed today it will be reviewing the move following an appeal from Virgin.

Network Rail said it had rejected Virgin Trains' bid to run the service, which Sir Richard Branson's company had been planning to bring in from December.

The contentious decision comes just days after Virgin issued a strongly-worded statement demanding Network Rail compensate customers for poor punctuality.

Network Rail officials said that the decision to prevent the plans for a direct link between Shropshire and London going ahead was "purely on the basis of performance".

Brian Clarke, a spokesman for the ORR, said a review would now take place.

"We have had an application from Virgin and we will be reviewing that alongside other applications about the West Coast Main Line to check whether they make best use of capacity on the network," he said.

A Network Rail spokesman said allowing more services on the West Coast Main Line would put the route under greater strain and result in more late services.

Under the Virgin proposals, two trains would have run each way between Shrewsbury and London every day, stopping at Wellington and Telford .

Environment Secretary and North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson said he sees the latest announcement as a "delay" rather than an end to the hopes for the link.

He said he had spoken to Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.

"He and I are very strong supporters of re-establishing a link," he said. "There are difficult negotiations going on with Virgin and Network Rail. This is another delay but it does show there is a genuine capacity problem. There is clear support from the Secretary of State and we want to try and resolve these difficulties."

A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin is keen for the rail industry to work together to secure additional connections to Blackpool and Shrewsbury."

Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski said: "They haven't said anything for two years and they suddenly come out and say no," he said. "Everybody has worked their socks off over the last two years and we are not going to be prevented by Network Rail at the last minute. I will fight tooth and nail."

The decision was also described by Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, as a "massive blow".

Meanwhile, Network Rail was today told by regulators that it must shave nearly £2 billion from spending plans over the next five years and meet new punctuality targets.