Virgin Trains statement: Shrewsbury service proposal

9 April 2009

Virgin Trains has today confirmed that it will not proceed with its plans to introduce a direct train service from Shrewsbury to London Euston.

Stakeholders were informed in March this year that this was an initial proposal and needed further investigation before Virgin Trains would seek approval from the Rail Regulator.

After several months detailed analysis on the proposal there is not a compelling case to justify additional trains, as evidenced by WSMR’s recent withdrawal of part of its service.

Virgin Trains was surprised at claims that we would force WSMR out of business, and this certainly was not our intention.

We hope that WSMR and its key backer - Deutsche Bahn – the state-owned German railway - will now commit long term to providing their service to Shropshire, despite recent reductions in the service.

Virgin Trains will continue to concentrate on the many parts of the country where there is clear demand for our expanded services.