Bosses of new direct London train outline timetable, passenger service and route plans

Two-and-a-half-hour journey times and local produce are some of the pledges made by those behind a new train firm hoping to link Shropshire with London.

Darren Horley, Mobilisation Director for WSMR at Alstom, Toby Rackliff, Strategic Lead – Rail Policy at West Midlands Rail Executive, Peter Broadley, Services Managing Director UK and Ireland at Alstom, and Ian Walters, Managing Director at SLC Rail, at Walsall station. Photo: WSMR

Five trains a day, Monday to Saturday, are planned by the new Wrexham Shropshire & Midlands Railway (WSMR), which submitted its application to start running trains to regulators at the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) in early March.

Running between the newly recognised Welsh city and London Euston, the company has earmarked stops at Gobowen, Shrewsbury and Telford Central, as well as calling at Wolverhampton, Walsall, Coleshill Parkway, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes.

MPs have backed the scheme, particularly with the existing Avanti West Coast service from Shrewsbury to London ending in early June.

The route means trains will avoid Birmingham. Speaking to the Shropshire Star, Darren Horley, mobilisation director for WSMR explained that the route will be quicker, with trains joining the West Coast Main Line at Nuneaton, where they will then able to travel at up to 125mph.

"Why not serve Birmingham? It's congested and busy," explains Mr Horley. "It's already served heavily by Avanti and Chiltern. We want to be working with them," rather than taking customers away.

The proposed route from Wrexham to London. Image: WSMR

A draft timetable shows trains taking a little over two-and-a-half hours to travel between Shrewsbury and Euston, with Telford 20 minutes closer and Gobowen 20 minutes further. The journey time between Wolverhampton and London is a little under two hours. Three morning departures, an afternoon service and evening train are proposed, with return journeys pencilled in to leave London twice in the morning (one early, one late), mid-afternoon, early evening and late evening.

The new service won't be the first running from the area to London; the similarly named Wrexham & Shropshire Railway (WSR) operated five trains a day from 2008-2011, while Virgin West Coast, latterly Avanti, has run a two-train service, which was reduced to one during the pandemic.

Director Ian Walters, who worked on the previous WSR operation, said those services often got "snarled up" going through Birmingham and took people to Marylebone, a station that is not as well connected as Euston.

To give an idea as to how the journey times compare, the WSR service took three-and-a-half hours to travel between Shrewsbury and London, while Avanti's service takes more than two-and-three-quarters. Journey times between Wolverhampton and Euston are set to be about par with the current offering, even slightly quicker at times.

Mr Horley said the research shows the demand will be there, with markets changing since Covid as leisure travel grows.

One such area is taking football fans to Wrexham, as the club's worldwide fanbase grows thanks to its Hollywood owners.

Mr Horley said that while that's happening at the club has "not driven" them, it's an "opportunity at the end of the route", so it's unsurprising trains are planned that will allow supporters to get to and from a typical Saturday 3pm kick-off.