Summit bid on Shropshire-London rail deal
A summit will be held at Westminster in a bid to thrash out a solution that will make a direct rail link between Shropshire and London a reality.
MP Daniel Kawczynski has invited all five Shropshire MPs to meet executives from Virgin and Network Rail as well as the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.
It follows the announcement by Virgin Trains that the company has scrapped its plans to launch a new direct service from May. It says the times given for the services by Network Rail make them unviable.
Virgin claims to have reacted to feedback from passengers unhappy at the proposed timetable, which would have made a day return between Shropshire and the capital impossible.
Instead it says it is committed to bringing in a service between London Euston, Wellington, Telford and Shrewsbury by December.
Mr Kawczynski said he hoped the summit would provide a solution, adding: "I speak to potential investors in Shropshire and again and again they tell me that the direct rail link is an issue."
It comes as Mansel Williams, chairman of the Marches Strategic Rail Group, said congestion problems on the West Coast Main Line need to be dealt with before the direct link can come to fruition.
