Star comment: Train link needs to be sorted

The saga of the county's non-existent rail link to the capital goes on, and on, and on.

And it is now dangerously close to running completely off track, and degenerating into one big, messy, embarrassing farce.

Virgin Trains insisted last year that it was committed to restoring the link, claiming the owners of the tracks, Network Rail, were the villains by denying them a slot in the timetable.

Network Rail then relented, offering a mid-afternoon weekday slot from Shrewsbury to Euston, with a direct service leaving in the other direction shortly after 11am. It was immediately evident that this would be of no use to business commuters, prompting fears that it would be a 'ghost train' with hardly a passenger in sight.

And yet it took Virgin Trains, who should know the business better than anyone, more than two months to arrive at the same conclusion.

And so today, we're almost back to square one, with a scenario which throws up more questions than answers.

Why, for example, did Virgin not dismiss the timetable slots out of hand straight away if they knew the proposed timings would be unattractive to customers?

And how can it be that two organisations which should be working collaboratively and pulling out all the stops to make the British rail service a happier, more efficient service seem to be consistently tugging in opposite directions?

As Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski rightly says, to the outside world these principal players appear to be demonstrating an inexplicable inability to sit round the table, engage with one another and thrash out a common sense solution.

Then there is the Government, which tells us it is committed to removing Shropshire's unwanted tag as the only county in the land without a direct rail service to the capital – but does nothing to oil the wheels of progress.

Surely the time has now come for transport minister Patrick McLoughlin to intervene and bang a few heads together.

The direct rail link is not just a Shropshire vanity project. The perception of a county which is cut off from the main transport network is damaging to the economy.

Only this week, Shrewsbury has welcomed a delegation from China, hoping to woo companies into investing. And Telford has one of the largest, and most important exhibition and conference venues in Britain, just a hop and a skip from the railway station.

That's why this campaign is not just about getting Shropshire people to London; it is about encouraging traffic in the other direction.

Putting the county back on the London railway map, and reminding business decision-makers in the capital that towns like Telford and Shrewsbury really do exist, is vital.

It is all very well being centrally located, but if business travellers can't let the train take the strain without hanging round for connecting services, one of Shropshire's biggest economic strengths is negated.

The situation needs to be resolved swiftly.

Shropshire has now been without a direct rail link to London for more than three years.

And you know what they say about places being out of sight, and out of mind . . .

Readers can rest assured that the Shropshire Star will not be letting this matter rest.

Thousands of people rallied behind our petition to restore the service to the capital, and people power undoubtedly made a difference.

There is no reason why it cannot do so again.

See also: Anger after Shropshire to London rail link launch is scrapped