Star comment: More still needs to be done
Victory. Not a complete victory, but in the circumstances something for Shropshire to celebrate, and something which brings credit to all those who have fought so hard for so long to re-establish the direct rail link between Shrewsbury and the capital city of this land.
It was not much to ask, but Salopians were made to feel as if they were asking for the world and some of the reasons put forward for denying Shropshire stretched credulity.
While on the one hand we have been told that Britain needs a high speed rail line which will cost the earth, Salopians have been told that having direct trains running to London would cause such complications that it is impossible.
So what are the fruits of this victory? The Office of Rail Regulation says that Virgin and Network Rail have together found an off-peak direct path to and from Shrewsbury on Mondays to Fridays, and another return trip on Sunday. It will be incorporated into the draft May 2014 timetable being issued tomorrow.
We shall have to see what the detailed plans are before assessing how far this goes towards meeting Shropshire's very reasonable request.
The route and the length of time the journey takes will be crucial. This is what brought down the last direct train service – everybody thought it was great, but it went a roundabout route and so took longer than it needed to. That is fine for tourists and day trippers with time on their hands, but not so good for business people for whom time is money.
And it is off-peak. Business people do not tend to travel off-peak. They need to be in London first thing in the morning to get in a full day, before leaving at the rush hour. Doing business is very much a peak time activity.
Lots of questions and lots of issues remain to be resolved then.
It is a watered down version of what Shropshire has been calling for.
Yet the door that was slammed in Shropshire's face has been prised open. Shropshire should take what it has been offered with gratitude, but continue knocking on the door until we have a return to something like the service that travellers to London once enjoyed.
