New North Wales to London train service has been rejected
A proposal for new train services between North Wales and London has been rejected by the rail regulator. Train and rail infrastructure supplier Alstom wanted to run its own rail service in the UK for the first time.
Working in partnership with consultancy SLC Rail they proposed the Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway (WSMR). This would have seen a service between Wrexham and London Euston of five trains per day in each direction Monday to Saturday, with four travelling both ways on Sundays.
The service received political backing from MPs in the areas of the route as well as local rail passenger groups and would have created 50 jobs, with the first trains departing this summer.
But those in the industry had objected on grounds of capacity, failure to account for paths allocated to other operators, impact on operational performance, rolling stock availability, and commercial risk and revenue implications.
The Office for Road and Rail, the independent economic and safety regulator for Britain's railways, has now rejected the proposal - citing a lack of capacity.
They said: "WSMR is of the view that there are nine 'unused' paths available on WCML(West Coast Mainline) South. We do not consider that these paths are 'unused' per se – while they are unoccupied in the timetable, they act as a buffer to a deterioration in performance, and it would not be possible to occupy these without worsening performance for all WCML users."
It was one of three applications being considered with others from Virgin for services between Manchester and London, and Lumo NW for services between Rochdale and the English capital.
Stephanie Tobyn, ORR's director of strategy, policy and reform, said: "After thorough assessment of each application, it was clear that there was insufficient capacity to approve any of the services without a serious negative impact on the level of train performance that passengers experience on the West Coast Main Line."
Sam Rowlands, Conservative Senedd member for North Wales, said: 'I am really disappointed to hear that plans for a three hour rail journey from Wrexham to London have been turned down. As the city continues to attract visitors from far and wide it really was essential that this sort of public transport is available.
'With the new Labour Government failing to commit to the last Conservative Government's planned investment in the North Wales mainline it was absolutely vital that everything possible is done to improve rail services for the people in my region.
'Not only would it have been great for residents but it was also be another way of encouraging visitors to visit Wrexham and the rest of North Wales.' Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox
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