Monday, March 12, 2007

Going off the rails

Last week I wrote about the Wrexham, Shropshire & Marylebone Railway (WSMR) and its attempt to run a direct service from Shrewsbury to London. So far, had found itself stymied by the weird combination of private monopoly and centralised control that now runs Britiain's railways.

Now, reports the Shropshire Star, the company is trying again. But see what contortions it is being forced into:
The new plans do not affect the link from Shropshire, which will still go ahead, but WSMR trains will not take passengers to London from Wolverhampton, instead they will stop at Tamebridge in Walsall.

Mr Nelson said: “Nothing else has changed, except instead of carrying passengers from Wolverhampton to London we will be carrying them from Tamebridge to London.

“People travelling from Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton will be able to travel on our trains as they will stop at Wolverhampton, but passengers wanting to go London will not be able to get on."
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2 comments:

  1. dreamingspire13 March, 2007 05:46

    Current recommended service from Tame Bridge Parkway to London Euston is Central Trains to New St, then Virgin, so the new WSMR service has merits. That said, there is pressure to use Whmpton as a connecting place rather than New St (e.g. for services from SW to NW), to relieve congestion at NS. But how do they intend to stop people getting on the WSMR service at Whmpton? DfT thought police at every door of the train?

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  2. Anonymous21 March, 2007 21:44

    Tame Bridge Parkway is not in Walsall its actually just inside the boundry of West Bromwich

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