London is the UK’s capital. While the Government has tried (or at least has said it’s tried) to ‘level up’ the rest of the country, doing stuff like moving key government jobs to Darlington and investing in a high-speed rail link to Birmingham, most of it has been in vain. London is still the place to be – and for the people of Shropshire, it’s about to get a bit harder to visit.
Avanti West Coast has announced that it is halting the direct service from Shrewsbury to London, which goes via Birmingham, from June 2024. The train is apparently currently used by a total of roughly 40 people a day.
The Department for Transport released a statement assuring that, despite the direct train being canned, ‘West Midlands Trains has plans to ramp up the number of trains between Shropshire towns and Birmingham’. The gov says that Avanti is also in the process of adding more fast services between Birmingham and London.
But fear not, Salopians – it ain’t all bad news. A brand new operator, Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands railway (WSMR), has applied for permission to bring the service back from its premature death and – plot twist – extend it northbound. The journey would begin in Wrexham, pass Shrewsbury and Telford, and then, in an unprecedented move, forgo Birmingham altogether, instead heading east to Wolverhampton before descending once more into the Big Smoke through Milton Keynes. Find out more about that new route on Time Out here.
Whether or not WSMR will be successful in their bid only time will tell, but they’ll have the support of every Shropshirite – watch this space for updates.
Trains in the news
We at Time Out like to keep up to date on the latest in the world of UK railway news. For instance, did you see that this tiny Welsh town is getting its train station back? Maybe you missed that Network Rail is building a train line in the US, or that Edinburgh’s getting a brand new £2 billion tram service. We also keep you up to date with latest information about ongoing strikes.
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