MP hails Virgin rail decision
Friday 10th April 2009, 10:58AM BST.
A Shropshire MP today said it was “good news” for Shropshire that Virgin Trains has dropped plans to introduce a direct rail service from Shropshire to London.
The company wanted to bring in a twice daily service of 125mph tilting trains running between Shrewsbury, Wellington and Euston.
But the proposals were opposed by rival operator Wrexham & Shropshire (WSMR), which has been operating for just over a year.
Yesterday Virgin announced it had axed plans.
Owen Paterson, MP for North Shropshire, today said: “This is very good news. It gives WSMR time to get their speeds up to two-and-a-half hours to Shrewsbury by 2012. By then Virgin’s monopoly at Wolverhampton and Birmingham will have ended.
“Given the circumstances and the huge investment from WSMR and the extraordinary loyalty they have built up in a year, it’s very good news.”
Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury, said it was “very important” WSMR was supported, but he believed in “open competition”.
“It would have been good if Virgin also invested on an equal footing with WSMR,” he said.
Andy Hamilton, managing director of Wrexham & Shropshire, welcomed the news but said they were concerned about Arriva Trains Wales’ service proposals.
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good for our Conservative MP, we dont want trains here, we want better roads and cheaper barking, trains are for lefty greeny liberals, we want more by passes and dualling of the main roads in Shropshire not trains which suck in taxpayers subsidy
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That wasn’t really what the MP (not named here but I presume Owen Paterson) was saying, now was it. He was just expressing concern – as have a lot of the travelling public – about seemingly predatory behaviour by a large rail firm which put a smaller (and far higher quality) rail firm at risk.
The concern was that Virgin’s service was intended merely to put Wrexham and Shropshire out of business, and once done, Virgin would – you can guarantee – have withdrawn from the county once again.
My only other comment would be that I doubt it is specifically down to Owen Paterson that Virgin have withdrawn their plans, although I suppose he will inevitably take the credit. We might never know why Virgin changed their plans (although they proibably did realise that their true intentions had been rumbled) but I doubt it was because of the specific involvment of Mr Paterson!
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Dear tory boy please get your facts and spelling correct , W@S trains do not recieve subsidies.They are a proper capitalist company who live or die by their own service and profits.
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For the benefit of the ill informed Try Boy’ Freight trains also operate without public subsidy. Compaines such as Deutsche Bahn (formally EWS), Freightliner, DRS & GBRF make more money than passenger services.
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Our MP must be very happy ; he will be the only MP who has campaigned against an improved rail service for any county in the UK. So what if the german state railway and virgin want to slog it out between them ? We as passengers would benefit from a fares war. Virgin said their service would run to at least 2012, WSMR havn’t given such a promise, and have just cut their service with a week’s notice. I think our MP will regret taking sides on this in the future, and WSMR are looking for a scapegoat to blame for reducing their service further.
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Tory Boy, you really are out of gear with the idea of less pollution and less covering grass with tarmac.
Trains must be a priority today along with Electric Cars and a top speed limit of 110 kph.
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Completely agree, Bill. Shouldn’t Wrexham & Shropshire be more concerned about upping the quality and speed of their own service rather than constantly expressing their concerns about introductions of new services from Virgin and Arriva?
I will be travelling with them Thursday for the gruelling trip down but in trains they should have ousted last year. Come on, guys.
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It seems to be about looking after the little man, but if Virgin had their way we would’ve been able to get to London for cheaper. :(
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