New rail link to capital is planned
Saturday 5th September 2009, 9:55AM BST.
A rail firm has submitted formal plans to launch another direct rail service from Shropshire to London.
The Arriva Trains Wales service would stop at Shrewsbury.
The company has submitted the proposal to the Office of Rail Regulation.
But Wrexham & Shropshire, operator of the county’s only current direct service to London, today claimed the new link could spell disaster for it.
It says that as a private operator without Government subsidy it relies on passengers to keep using trains on a regular basis.
Today Arriva Trains Wales said it believed there was demand for the service, claiming it would provide “significant” benefits to the local economy.
Bosses said that, subject to approval, the new service would provide two daily direct trains from Aberystwyth to London and back, via Shrewsbury.
It said that the service, if given the go-ahead, would be introduced following the completion of track and signalling work on the Cambrian Line.
It would be operated using the company’s Class 158 fleet for which refurbishment specifications are currently being developed.
Mike Bagshaw, commercial director for Arriva Trains Wales, said: “We’ve received overwhelming support from stakeholders and passengers for this new service and we want to expand our network to serve new markets, creating new travel opportunities for rail passengers.”
Thomas Ableman, marketing director for Wrexham & Shropshire, said: “Arriva Trains Wales’s proposal to shadow most of our route is of great concern to us and would threaten the viability of our service.”
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Perhaps Arriva should concentrate on improving its current rail services (without relying on Welsh Assembly money for a change) before expanding into other ventures.
And in any case, if they are planning to use the trains that they currently employ on the Cambrian Line, they might as well give up now – who would want to travel to London on one of *those*?
Wrexham and Shropshire’s worries are probably well founded. Where have Arriva been till now?
Then again, anyone who has travelled with W+S will know that Arriva could never hope to match the former company for its standard of service (something which Arriva, on its trains and buses in the area, patently aren’t that interested in anyway)
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great for local business
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there is room for two compnaies to both run trains to london surely, we are growing as a town, competitions a good thing for the punter surely, make it cheaper, and greener than driving, so surely we should all be celebrating?
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It all comes back to the original point that despite much campaigning by the public of Shropshire, all the main rail operators refused to run a Shrewsbury / Telford – London service because ‘it wasn’t viable’ aka not enough profit in it.
Along comes the upstart Wrexham & Shropshire, without the mass subsidies the others get, not only gets the service up and running, makes it work AND does away with the ridiculously complicated fares system and suddenly everyone else wants a piece of the action.
As for the answer – either tell the others where to get off (preferably Wolverhampton as they all thought that was the end of the inter-city line) or give W&S the same subsidies as the others to put them on an even playing field.
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I welcome the competition particularly as W+S had to reduce its timetable but i doubt that arriva would be able to match the advance fair that the exsisting service offers.
£20 return is fantastic and i enjoy the great service, in particular the helpful staff. I also found the older style carriages more comfortable than the usual arriva stock.
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I just hope that W&S can get their journey time down. II can get to London quicker going via new street or wolverhampton including time to wait there for the connecting train…
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How can anybody call it competition when W Snot allowed to pick up at Wolverhampton and Birmingham I was amazed at WRexham Station to find no information about W S services.Wrexham being an ARRIVA station,what a farce.Must be pretty desparate to travel 3rd rate in ARRIVAS158 carriages all the way from ABER to LONDON unless really cheap.We really are 3rd rate compared to most European countries.Good luck to the Wrexham Shrewsbury Company,cheap comfortable,slightly slower maybe but if not allowed to compete fairly it really makes a mockery of so called privatisation.Maybe the MEPwill sanction the service from Aber but bet your life they won,t be travelling on the service
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The other issue is that when W+S were planning their services, existing operators along the route (ie Virgin and – surprise surprise – Arriva Trains Wales squealed to high heaven about the possibility that they would lose revenue to W+S)
Its rather simplistic to say that the proposed Arriva service will be good for local business, or that ‘competition is good’. Arriva should concentrate on its core business – what its franchise specifies – and get the core business right before it expands to London. If W+S withdrew its services, how long do you think Arriva would carry on with their service?
Interesting how its keen to ‘refurbish’ its trains for the proposed service, yet is happy for the exact same trains to struggle along on its other routes in the poor state which many of them are currently in!
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