well done sir!
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Will this be from London Euston or a different London Terminus?
It would be less of an obsession if regional trains were more frequent and timed to connect with mainline trains but unfortunately it's become normal to mostly disregard connectivity - e.g. GWR cutting up a service in 2 and making a 55 minute gap between the two halves. In that aspect Telford / Shrewsbury is not doing that badly, there's normally a 7 minute connection at Birmingham International from TFW to AWC, but when there are numerous places across the country where the mainline train arrives 5-10 minutes after the hourly (or worse) branch line train departs, or when the branch line train is not held for even 2 minutes if the main line service is delayed, the mentality against connections spreads throughout the country. Hence why a large proportion of travellers would rather have the french/spanish solution of a few direct trains per day compared to an hourly (or more frequent) 1-change journey.
Thanks for that reply. It does seem to be borne out in practice as you identify. I suppose the question will be will it change under GBR who can maybe be a voice of reason for a balanced and coordinated local/regional/express timetable?
The definition of madness is met by expecting a different outcome to the previous 3/4* failures of through Shrewsbury-London services.
Still surprising that nobody has tried to push a direct service to Manchester or Crewe which don’t need the crowded WCML and have frequent services already from Chester that could be extended a little.
Where would LNR get bimodes for a small portion of an hourly route, or how quickly would Crewe – Chester be electrified?
Quickest option would probably be to fit up a loco to do a Crewe-Chester drag. Chester electrification has been talked about from lots of angles, so maybe it's a case of piling enough on to tip the balance? It would still take quite a while to deliver OLE though even if funding was agreed tomorrow.
Key question is whether that's Shrewsbury - Rugby - London or Shrewsbury - Leamington - London.
What about the Wrexham part?
I don't know, it's not my suggestion.
They could run Wrexham - Chester - Crewe - Shrewsbury - London
Also, do you have a link for where this info has come from?
Maybe they could merge the Shrewsbury service with Lumo's approved Stirling service at Nuneaton, to avoid needing a new path on the WCML.
And years & years of meetings with the DfT as it would be dealt with as a totally new OA application.
Did I dream it or did Neil Kinnock visit Chester General (as it was) to mark the plans for electrification to Chester? This was, of course, many, many years ago. There was even an electric locomotive there for the occasion.
That aspect completely passed me
Already an hourly service to Chester as well as frequent buses.
Virgin had an excellent proposal to run to Stafford via Oxley chord and combine there. It would have finally achieved the desperately needed journey time improvement and reduced railheading car usage from Shropshire to Stafford. However, it too failed performance tests.
I agree. But with Wrexham being the first part of the company name, they either have to ditch the Wrexham name or make it a longer more winded route
Presumably on the split/ join basis? It's clearly the optimal journey timewise on existing infrastructure.
The West Coast Mainline has been declared full so there would no point in another application to use the West Coast Mainline to Euston, it would just be rejected again. I cannot see an application for services to Paddington working either. The only route that may be worth trying is the Chiltern Line to Marylebone. We shall have to see what they decide to apply for if and when a new application is submitted.
