Chance for a Shropshire to London rail link has never been better

Phil Bearpark, Virgin's production director, says the improvements in rolling stock, strength of the transport giant's network as a whole, and demand from within Shropshire have all combined to make the circumstances perfectly suited for the reintroduction of the vital route.

And with Network Rail investing millions in improvements to the system, he added that the circumstances were ripe for the next bid to succeed, and for trains to be rolling out of Shrewsbury and into Euston from next May.

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"The opportunity to do this has never been better," he said.

"We have the rolling stock, whereas 15 years ago we didn't. This service will be more attractive than past services, as these are fast, comfortable and modern trains.

"Clearly with any new service, on day one the train won't be full, but our modelling shows the demand increasing rapidly once the service has been in place for a while. There is a positive business case for doing it.

"The Virgin brand is very strong and does tend to attract ridership in a way that other operating brands are not as powerful. We see evidence of that day in, day out.

"It's going to be the back end of the year before we hear what progress we have made, so the petition now is really well-timed, as the opinion formers are working their way to a decision."

Virgin plans to run two direct trains to London every day, beginning at Crewe, passing through Whitchurch and Shrewsbury, before running back to Telford and to London via Stafford. It would also run two return journeys.

It would not take in Wolverhampton, preventing additional congestion on the already-busy West Midlands line, instead running through the Trent Valley and via Milton Keynes.

Five-car Super Voyagers, super-fast tilting diesel trains which match the speeds of the top-of-the-line electric Pendolinos, would complete the journey from Shrewsbury to Euston in about two-and-a-half hours.

The service would not attract additional ticket costs, and would be priced within the existing pricing models run by Virgin. "Because we are a very diverse train operator, and run to Manchester, Chester and Glasgow, we are able to spread our overheads over a very big business," Mr Bearpark added. "The Wrexham and Shropshire Railway needed to be a lot more profitable than we do.

"We are also producing the rolling stock through efficiencies rather than having to lease new stock. We would be doing this from our current cost base. We would need to recruit extra drivers, but that's achievable.

"The last time we were in Shrewsbury was very early in the franchise and it was very messy. We pulled the train into Wolverhampton by diesel then joined it with an electric engine.

"As a total we carried 14 million passengers a year. Now we carry about 32 million. Why would the market from Shrewsbury be any different to that? The business case is sound."

The most recent bid fell flat because of Network Rail's concerns over capacity, leading to some biting comments from Shropshire-based officials about its ability to run the network for which it is responsible.

But Mr Bearpark said investments in the most congested areas of track, including near Rugby on the West Coast Main Line, meant that the next bid would be in a better position to proceed, because of the benefits of that additional work. Around £40 million has been spent on performance improvements, freeing up the capacity on the route for Shropshire to London trains.

"In my mind I'm completely clear that there should be no barriers to this, but there's quite a lot of industry hoops to jump through," he said.

"We have to have the same arguments again with Network Rail and the Office of Rail Regulation, but we are confident our logic is sound and the opportunity exists.

"If we don't bid for it in May, the next opportunity would be December 2014.

"We think that for the people of Shrewsbury the desire is there. Why make people wait?"