Fares to rise on Shropshire's London rail service

The operators of Shropshire's only direct rail link to London today said they were putting up fares because of economic pressures and spiralling fuel costs.

Bosses of Wrexham & Shropshire said they had made the "difficult" decision to introduce the price hike next month.

It comes as they admit they are not making enough profit to safeguard the future of the service. From September 20, there will be two standard fares; semi flexible and fully flexible.

It will see some passengers travelling from Shrewsbury, Wellington, Telford and Cosford, seeing their fares rise by £10 from £40 to £50 under the latter standard fare. While those in Gobowen and Chirk will see a hike of £12 to £60 under the same fare structure.

Andy Hamilton, managing director of the firm, today said: "Wrexham & Shropshire is not immune to economic pressures, such as the recession and rising fuel costs.

"Despite loyal customers and consistent week-on-week growth in terms of passenger numbers, we are still not making the profit we need to safeguard the future of our rail service.

"That is why we have taken the difficult decision to make changes to some of our fares from mid September."

The firm will still have discounted Advance tickets.