Virgin Trains is telling people to contact the Government if they want the direct rail link between Shropshire and London restored.
Direct train services came to an end last month with the demise of the popular Wrexham and Shropshire open access service – due in part to aggressive competition from Virgin, which is now dangling the prospect of a replacement service in front of frustrated passengers.
Virgin suggests a review of the West Coast franchise, which ends in April 2012, could see a future version of the franchise including direct Shropshire-London links. If enough passengers press for it, the potential services could be much faster than the old Wrexham and Shropshire trains, which were forced to divert around busy West Midlands stations.
Can Virgin really claim to be the knight in shining armour for passengers when it had such a role in preventing Wrexham and Shropshire from becoming a viable service? Probably not – but maybe we should let bygones be bygones and hope Virgin realises the amount of potential custom from the ‘stranded’ Wrexham and Shropshire passengers.
