Train company closing with loss of 55 jobs
Wednesday 26th January 2011, 11:30AM GMT.
A train company that runs services through the West Midlands is to close on Friday with the loss of 55 jobs, it was announced today.
Wrexham & Shropshire, which operates trains between Wrexham and London Marylebone, blamed falling customers numbers due to the economic downturn for the decision.
When it was launched less than three years ago, restoring direct services to the capital after a gap of 41 years, trains stopped at 10 stations between Wrexham and London, including Shrewsbury, Telford, Cosford and Tame Bridge Parkway on the border of Walsall and Sandwell.
It also stopped at Wolverhampton, but was only allowed to drop off passengers.
In a letter given to passengers at Wrexham General station this morning, Wrexham & Shropshire chairman Adrian Shooter said the firm had lost £2.8 million in 2010.
He said: “We have done every thing possible to try to reduce the losses. We have reached the conclusion that the business has no prospect of providing a return on investment.”
Mr Shooter said alternative jobs in the railway industry were being sought for staff affected. Tickets bought for the service for after this Friday will be accepted by some other carriers on appropriate services to and from London Euston and London Marylebone.
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Only allowed to drop off passengers at Wolverhampton? Huh? Thats very odd. I wondered why you couldn’t get a ticket on that service from Wolverhampton.
That comes across as anti-competitive behaviour by Virgin and London Midlands Trains.
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competition is in the bidding process
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looks like a return to waiting around for the ever-delayed & often overcrowded london midland service (aka the mobile toilet).
virgin & london midland better get their acts together now they’ve killed off the competition.
to all the people employed by Wrexham & Shropshire: thank you for providing a much needed service, with always polite staff, clean and comfortable trains, and a pleasant experience every time. it will be missed.
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I only found out this morning whilst looking to book for this spring. We used the service from Wrexham in September. It was an absolutely excellent service and very reasonable. The ride was smooth and the carriages spotlessly clean. The service and attention was superb. Now it’s gone. We only seem to maintain shoddy and poor service in this country and kill off the better ones. Where is the support of the government? The UK road system is third world at best. A good train service has now disappeared for good and we are left to consider a range of much poorer and sub standard services. Well done UK plc.
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I will really miss this service to London, which was excellent, friendly, and affordable. More than can be said for the “competition”.
It’s easy to see why it went down. The insane franchising system meant that the entrenched companies such as Virgin would not allow the W&S to stop at major stations such as Birmingham New Street and Coventry, even though the trains ran through there. I can remember being stopped at New Street once for ten minutes or so with the doors firmly closed, though people would happily have got off, and some would have got on. Madness. Obviously not a market at all.
Virgin, the famous free-market private rail company, gets a vast public subsidy, more than British Rail could ever have dreamed of, and the W&S got not a penny. QED.
Sad and disgusting. It’s well past time all the railway companies were renationalised.
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Terrible news! Travelling on W&S was like being on the Royal Train – an enjoyable and unique experience. Now we must resort to the crowded and cramped conditions of the Pendolinos, or overcrowd the roads with our cars. A big thankyou to the enterprise that led to this wonderful service and to all the staff involved. Small is still beautiful and I hope that in due course others will take up the challenge and give us a comparable service from Shropshire.
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So much for capitalism and the benefits of competion!!
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“So much for capitalism and the benefits of competion!!” — Post 6
I’m sure the W&S could’ve made a go of it if they’d been allowed to serve any station they liked on the lines they used. But we’ll never know, and the other companies once again don’t need to bother — just keep on raking in the subsidy from the taxpayer without any worries about competition from a proper, unsubsidised rail company.
They must be so proud. Bonuses all round, chaps! More champagne?
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Really sad this one.Thought they were up and coming.Hate the thought of all those passengers squashed into coaches and a long motorway ride to London.And of the idea of overloading Arriva more.
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This is crass madness! .. once again the lobbyist’s and the vested interests have put another nail in Britain’s People Mover Industry! .. Britain pioneered the Railway method of transportation and offered a service second to none over a hundred years ago and Political Ineptitude destroyed it and the masses insist on moving themselves in tin cans on wheels over ever increasingly over burdened highways.
Transportation in Britain is much too important to be left to the Greed and Corruption of Private enterprise! .. Re Nationalise immediately! ………
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In complete agreement !
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This is an example of why it was a terrible mistake by the Tories to sell off the railways,if it can’t make a massive profit to line shareholders pockets then they axe the service.Trains are a vital public service for the travelling public of this country,they should not be run for profit.The Conservatives hate public ownership,they sell off the nations treasures to give profits to greedy shareholders.Bring back British Rail,it’s the poor passengers who are getting ripped off paying highest ever fares for sub standard services!
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I am really sorry to hear of this loss. It was a bit slow, in comparison to Stafford to Euston, but it was full of the charm of a less rushed age and the staff were truely great. The staff cared about the company, their colleagues and their customers, their are not many companies like that anymore, and it made Wrexham & Shropshire stand out.
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A self reply – But to all the staff of W&S, I hope things work out quickly for you and your families, but please take your personalities and smiles with you.
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I gather from Google that the taxpayer subsidy to Virgin Trains is £1.3 billion. W&S got £0.00
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