Avanti to axe through Shrewsbury-Euston service
THE single direct rail service from Shrewsbury to London Euston is to be axed from June.
According to informed sources, the service has been losing passengers leading to a revenue shortfall of around £1.4 million per year as a result of changing travel patterns.
Other operational overheads are the cost of maintaining route knowledge for 60 Oxley-based drivers, in addition to around 75 miles of empty stock working each day of operation.
Cutting the services means passengers will have to change to Avanti trains to
Euston at Wolverhampton or Birmingham New Street.
However, The RM understands that from June this year, West Midlands Railway plans to introduce a Birmingham to Shrewsbury semi-fast service via Sandwell & Dudley, with the existing service (which calls at most stations) being diverted to run via Tame Bridge Parkway to Wolverhampton. This latter service will call at Darleston and Willenhall when these two new stations open.
Open access returns
It is not all gloomy news for passengers, however, as a new open access operator called Wrexham Shropshire & Midlands Railway is aiming to start operations from June 2025 between Wrexham General to London Euston. An application for train paths has been lodged with the Office of Rail & Road for approval.
The application is for five-trains per day Monday to Saturday (four on Sunday) using Class 221 or 222 units to meet the 125mph requirements of the West
Coast Main Line. The service is proposed to call at Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Telford, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Coleshill Parkway, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes Central. An outline timetable suggests an end-to-end journey time of around three hours. The route also opens up new direct journey opportunities avoiding a change at Birmingham New Street.
Consultancy firm SLC Rail is behind the WSMR plan and is unrelated to previous open access operator Wrexham, Shropshire & Marylebone Railway that operated
Class 67 and Mk.3 carriages between 2008 and 2011 (later becoming part of the DB Regio/Arriva operation and remains an active company as a legal entity).
SLC has been involved in the delivery of new stations at Kidderminster, Worcestershire
Parkway, Kenilworth and the development of the Cowley branch at Oxford.
As part of its access application, the new WSMR has outlined aspirations to refurbish the Class 22x sets and fit them with stop-start engine technology and improved emission control. Longer term, it is looking towards hybrid traction.
There are potential conflicts for paths on the West Coast Main Line, as Avanti wants to increase its service frequency from London to Liverpool to half-hourly, while Grand Union has applied to introduce an open access service between Stirling and Euston.