On Friday the last Wrexham & Shropshire train to the capital left Shrewsbury at 2.07pm – marking the end of the link after three years.
The shock announcement that the award-winning railway service had ceased trading, with the loss of 55 jobs, came amid new figures which revealed the company made a £2.9 million loss in 2010.
Staff bid farewell to the last train.
Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury, has vowed that the ‘battle will continue’ to help bring back the service and he revealed that all Shropshire MPs were working cross-party to try to preserve Shrewsbury’s links with London.
He has written to Theresa Villiers, Minister of State for Transport, urging her to consider the town when the new West Coast Mainline franchise starts in 2012. And by yesterday more than 6,000 people had signed an online petition in a bid to try to save the service.
Adrian Shooter, the chairman of Wrexham & Shropshire, has spoken of his sadness at the end of the service and praised its employees, for helping the service secure the highest ratings of 96 per cent in the UK for passenger satisfaction in a study by Passenger Focus last week.
“It’s so sad that last Tuesday evening I had to go and tell them that most unfortunately we had reached an unavoidable decision that we had to close the company,” he said.
“As you would expect, we are doing everything we possibly can to find people alternative jobs.
“All the other rail companies have rallied around to provide a list of vacancies and we will make sure our people are aware of this.
“They will still be our employees until we settle them in another job or give them their redundancy pay.”
In 2009, Wrexham & Shropshire cut the cost of peak time travel to the capital to £40. The Anytime fare meant leisure and business passengers could buy a return ticket and arrive in London by 9am.
It was designed to help businesses and consumers struggling in the recession and won backing from north Shropshire MP Owen Paterson.
In the same year the service provider also fought off numerous bids by rivals to operate along the route.
But now the rail link which everyone was raving about has come to an end, with bosses blaming falling passenger numbers for the decision. Meanwhile, business leaders have raised fears over the impact the loss of the service will have on the county at a time when pockets are feeling the pinch.
Saddened
Richard Sheehan, managing director of Shropshire Chamber of Commerce and Excellence, said: “Everybody is deeply saddened that they have been unable to make it pay.
In happier times at Wellington.
“It is a sad blow for the area. By promoting the route in London it was providing a boost to tourism and leisure.
“As we go forward with the potential public sector job losses and the private sector having to pick up those new roles, inward investment into the area is going to be important.
“A direct route between Shropshire and London will enable businesses to make those choices.”
Peter Bettis, chairman of Shrewsbury Business Chamber, said: “We are very disappointed it didn’t become economical for them to continue with that service.
“But we’re very encouraged by our MP’s endeavour to find some way of assisting that service to continue and look forward to a successful outcome.”
What do you think? Email kbennett@shropshirestar.co.uk
by Charlotte Hester