Rail bosses back Shropshire link to London

The Office of Rail Regulation said it will be putting pressure on Network Rail to make the necessary improvements to the West Coast Main Line to allow the route to become a reality.

It comes after leading officials from the ORR were presented with the Shropshire Star's petition on the issue by county MPs at a meeting in London.

More than 3,000 people have signed the petition calling for services to be reinstated as soon as possible.

• To sign the petition, click here

• See www.shropshirestar.com/rail

Anna Walker, chairman of the ORR, also acknowledged the public support for getting the link in place.

"I'd like to thank the readers of the Shropshire Star for their contribution to the petition calling for a direct rail link between Shrewsbury and London," she said.

"ORR has met with a number of Shropshire MPs to discuss this subject and we recognise how important the issue is to people across the region.

"We are putting pressure on Network Rail both to improve its performance and to carry out improvements on the West Coast Main Line so that the question of new services from London to Shrewsbury can be looked at again as soon as possible."

The meeting in London yesterday was attended by Shrewsbury and Atcham's Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski and Telford's Labour MP David Wright.

The rest of the MPs in Shropshire and Mid Wales have previously given their support to the petition and the idea of getting the link back up and running.

Shropshire remains the only county without a direct rail link to the capital after the Wrexham & Shropshire service was axed in 2011. Virgin Trains is now hoping to get the direct link up and running by May next year.

Mr Kawczynski said it had been a "very positive" meeting.

"They understand the disappointment and frustration my constituents and I feel, which was evidenced by the petition I raised at the meeting," he said.

The petition will now be presented to Parliament later this week when Mr Kawczynski will present a formally-worded version of the petition to the House of Commons.

Network Rail have previously indicated the route could be reinstated if improvements are made.

A spokesman said: "We have always said that when performance improves, additional services might be something we could consider again in the future."

Jim Rowe, a spokesman for Virgin Trains, said the operator welcomed the ORR's offer of assistance.

"Nothing has changed from our perspective. We want these trains in as quickly as possible and we would like to get them in for next May," he said.

"Anything that helps that is to be welcomed."

See also: Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski happy after 'positive' rail meeting