A tiny bit of what some might see inconsequential news today is that Wrexham and Shropshire Trains – who operate a route from Wrexham, through Chester, Shrewsbury, Telford and through to London are to cease operations in the near future.
Services will cease on 28th January.
Forward booking tickets will be accepted on on Virgin, Arriva Trains Wales, London Midland and Chiltern Railways services
See: http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/alternative-travel.php to see if and how you’re affected.
The last operated train will be the the 1830 from London Marylebone to Wrexham General.
Wrexham, Shropshire, Marylebone Railway (WSMR) blamed falling customers numbers in the economic downturn. 55 staff are affected, and the company will be helping in finding alternative jobs,
In terms of service, it is a very “Classical” service, with a 3-4 Car’s of passenger space with a locomotive and a driving trailer unit. However, this has dropped from 5 services a day, to 4 and finally 3 services before the termination notice was issued. It was set up in
In a notice handed to passengers, there was a loss last year of £2.8millon, and no foreseeable opportunity to see the service breaking even, let alone making a profit.
The service was set up initially between Renaissance Trains and Laing Rail in 2008 to re-provide the link after a break of 41 year. These companies sold their share to Chiltern Railways who in turn sold to Deutsche Bahn Regio.
The service has since faced competitor from Virgin Trains who had various demands of stopping patterns before they could operate the service, as well as local competition from Arriva Trains Wales and London Midland (all three of these are franchised rail companies – WMSR was set up as an open access operator, and has no access to subsidies or legacy services/paths unlike the Franchised operators).
As opposed to placing the company into receivership, the company is naturally winding itself up so as not to implode on the industry.
A shame, as the service was of a high quality and an on-time nature. However, the rolling stock from this may be diverted and send to support the upgraded Chiltern Main Line that is coming from May onwards, releasing further capacity on the line.
