Good. The Wrexham and Shropshire service is perfectly adequate and, having travelled with Arriva, I could only imagine them finding some brilliant way of messing it up completely (not providing enough carriages, etc.)

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Thank goodness for that. Wrexham & Shropshire run a fantastic service, yes it takes a little bit longer to get there but you arent packed in like cattle on the way to market. They are a lot cheaper and an awful lot nice trains (& staff)

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There IS a God! That God is the rail regulator who has seen through this spoiling tactic by Arriva which already has a poor reputation among regular early-morning commuters in Shropshire.

I began using the Wrexham & Shropshire service to London 18 months ago and now would not travel any other way. The reliability is top-class, the service wonderful, the rolling stock immaculate and the fares beyond argument.

As an example, I have to travel to London at the end of this month with a large but light-weight parcel which might prove awkward in a normal passenger compartment.

If I take the Virgin train I have the problem of transferring it to a London train at Birmingham, so I phoned Wrexham & Shropshire to explain my situation. Their response is “No problem. Tell us what time train you’re taking and we’ll arrange for the driver to collect it from you and carry it in his cab. He’ll hand it to you at Marylebone.”

Never in a month of Sundays could I imagine either Virgin or Arriva making such an offer. That it what is so special about W&S. They really DO care and DO care for their customers in a way the big boys have forgotten how to.

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Great News for Wrexham and Shropshire, its about time they were given a fair chance to make this route work, Arriva Trains are a very poor company by comparison, its about time ATW ran a decent service throughout Shropshire as currently the service provided is far from satisfactory. The line between Shrewsbury and Crewe is a fine example of poor managment, clapped out rolling stock. Thanks WSMR for a fanstastic service.

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marco said:

‘little company’??? I thought that W&S was owned by Chiltern now, in which case they’re just another one of the big operators.

Chiltern are a division of DB – German Railways, who in various guises have owned W&S since its formation.

Little company/big operator – who cares? All I know is that from the passenger feedback they’re obviously doing something right – I hate London but what I’ve heard about their service almost makes me feel like having a day out!!

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Shock! Horror! Rail regulator gets it right! Brilliant news.

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