Virgin drops rail link bid

Virgin Trains today announced it has dropped controversial plans to introduce a new direct rail service from Shropshire to London.

The company had hoped to bring in a twice daily service of 125mph tilting trains running between Shrewsbury, Wellington and Euston. But the proposals were strongly opposed by rival operator Wrexham & Shropshire (WSMR).

The company, which already runs services from Shropshire to London Marylebone, claimed it could be forced out of business by its subsidised and much larger rival.

And today Virgin backed down - claiming there were not enough passengers to justify more Shropshire-London trains.

In a statement, the company said: "Virgin Trains has today confirmed it will not proceed with its plans to introduce a direct train service from Shrewsbury to London Euston.

"Stakeholders were informed in March this year that this was an initial proposal and needed further investigation before Virgin Trains would seek approval from the Rail Regulator.

"After several months detailed analysis on the proposal there is not a compelling case to justify additional trains, as evidenced by WSMR's recent withdrawal of part of its service.

"Virgin Trains was surprised at claims that we would force WSMR out of business, and this certainly was not our intention.

"We hope that WSMR and its key backer - Deutsche Bahn, the state-owned German railway - will now commit long term to providing their service to Shropshire, despite recent reductions in the service.

"Virgin Trains will continue to concentrate on the many parts of the country where there is clear demand for our expanded services."

Councillor Gary Davies, who campaigned to get a direct rail service from Wellington, today said he was "over the moon" that Virgin had pulled out.

"As somebody who is very concerned about Wellington, I hope this will give Wrexham & Shropshire even more confidence in their service."

Wrexham & Shropshire has already reduced its services from the county due to the low passengers numbers. It was feared that a rival service would threaten the company even further.