Shropshire Star

Why must Shropshire wait for London link?

Mixed in with the delight at today's news that Shropshire's rail link to London is to be restored, there remains a nagging doubt.

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Mixed in with the delight at today's news that Shropshire's rail link to London is to be restored, there remains a nagging doubt.

As part of FirstGroup's newly acquired franchise to run Britain's West Coast Main Line rail service, the company promises to re-establish Shropshire's link to the capital from 2016.

But why must we wait so long? The period between losing the Wrexham and Shropshire Railway and its replacement being found amounted to around 18 months, yet it will be around four more years before it gets up and running.

Richard Parry, who will be managing director of the new franchise when it starts operating in December, this afternoon told the Shropshire Star that the need to build up a rolling stock to serve the extra routes was a major part of the wait.

"It's frustrating, I can see that," he said. "But it's about the timescale for several things to happen.

"We have to secure the rights to run that route, work through the timetabling, and secure additional trains which will enable us to expand the service as there might not be the capacity to run to Shropshire. It will require three to four years to deliver that.

"My commitment will be to do this as soon as we can, but from where we start to the point that we can do it, it would be unrealistic to promise anything more quickly."

He added: "We have made a firm commitment to run this service, but have got to work through the process – there are no short cuts – and ensure it can be run reliably. We don't want it to be a poor service.

"The main thing is we need new trains to give us the added capacity to run the full set of services on the west coast. The timescale to work this through isn't inconsiderable. Now we are firmly installed we will work with the team on the west coast to come up with as robust a plan as possible, but because it hinges on the delivery of additional trains it will be difficult to bring it forward."

When Network Rail announced its latest plans to electrify tracks last month, Shropshire missed out. It left many questioning whether it would be possible to run an effective service between Shrewsbury and Telford and the capital on diesel routes.

There are no new plans to electrify the route between Shrewsbury and London, but compared to the departed Wrexham and Shropshire Railway, the diesel service is expected to be relatively quick.

While the precise travel time between Shropshire's county town and the nation's capital is still to be confirmed, it is expected to take less than two-and-a-half hours – its predecessor took nearer three-and-a-half. The service will also terminate at Euston, instead of the WSR's Marylebone.

Moreover, because First will be the main operator on the stations on the West Coast Main Line, the service will also run directly into and out of Birmingham New Street – the WSR line was forced to circumnavigate the city by stopping at Tame Bridge Parkway, before rejoining the line to London at Stechford.

The high-performance diesel engines being used to run the service will be redeployed from other lines to provide a similar service to that which runs between Chester and London. The delay will also see the services spruced up before being pressed into action.

But the onus will be on FirstGroup to make the service profitable. In its final year of service, the Wrexham and Shropshire Railway lost its owner, DB Schenker, upwards of £2.8million, but First are hopeful strong uptake driven by the quicker journey times and enjoyable service will fund its delivery.

Mr Parry, formerly the deputy managing director for TFL's London Underground and Rail services, added: "We are refurbishing all the trains on the west coast. It will be a train with a brand new interior, and we are really going to make sure we do that properly with new seats, improved luggage space and enhanced wi-fi.

"We are looking for it to be a big uplift in passenger environment and customer experience that will be taking place over the first two-and-a-half years of the franchise, to be phased in when we can.

"We know it's a fair time to wait for the service, so when we get there we want a really good product that is attractive to customers, and is the subject of really strong demand.

"Our plan is to operate five trains a day on the service, spread as well as we can across the day on something like a three-hourly cycle. It needs to be something people can plan around."

The new service has been launched under fire from the west coast's previous operator, Virgin, but Mr Parry said there was no foundation in Sir Richard Branson's warning that the group had oversold its ability to run the routes.

"We have worked very hard on these plans and are very confident our service is deliverable," he said. "We have an exciting proposition, it's about delivering more growth on the railway, with lots of spare capacity throughout the day.

"The investment has brought additional carriages, and our plan is to capitalise on that investment and to generate growth on the railway with a good service.

"It will be challenging, and it's important to get things right, but we are very confident our plans will be successful. It isn't about cutting services or job numbers, we are committed to a high quality service, investing in improvements, and that's about how you make sure we give good quality to attract people onto the railway."

See also:

  • Shropshire to get direct rail link to London

  • Leader: Rail link is great news but not end of battle

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