Shropshire Star

Virgin Trains says its hands are tied over Shropshire to London route times

Virgin Trains today confirmed it cannot change the times of the planned Shrewsbury to London service to connect with passengers from the north and south of the county.

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The company, which is bringing back the long-awaited direct link from Shropshire to the capital, said its hands are tied because of having to use existing slots into Euston.

It means Arriva Trains Wales passengers from Whitchurch and Wem in the north and Ludlow, Craven Arms and Church Stretton in the south will miss the connection with the 6.39am train – one of only two planned services per day – by a matter of minutes.

Arriva Trains Wales has already said it cannot change the timings of the connecting services without impacting on other connections further up or down the line, which runs from Cardiff to Manchester.

Campaigners have said it will mean the service will not be used by passengers from the more rural parts of Shropshire.

Richard Stanton, speaking for Virgin Trains, said: "

Re-timing a train by a matter of minutes sounds a relative simple thing to do. Unfortunately that is just not an option available to us given the constraints of the West Coast Main Line. That said we will keep the matter under review."

Andy Boddington, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow North, said it showed privatised train services were not working.

He said: "

I am against private companies making decisions that are not in the public interest. Especially when they get a £159 million subsidy." The new London service has been set up following a Direct Link campaign by the Shropshire Star.

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