Great Western Coffee Shop

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6pvvzw89ldo

The article headed up by a photo of a Pendolino, the service provided by a Voyager? From the looks of the Avanti Voyagers I saw at Crewe and Chester the other day, Avanti have two cleaning regimes, one for the Pendolinos and another for everything else.

Up from Shrewsbury at 07:04, a two hour fifty minute journey time giving an arrival at Euston just before ten am. Back from London at 18:16 arriving Shrewsbury at 21:02.

The fares: £197 anytime return (£305 for first class) or advance which go from ~£170 return a few days ahead down to ~£120 on a month's horizon.

Annual season ticket: £6556 (equivalent to £25.23 return per day) but for a workday arrival you'd probably need an earlier option than the through train.

So, a single out-and-back west coast main line service run only in the peak, in an era in which peak fares are struggling.

It'll be revealing to see what happens next, in two years time, in ten years time, when a curiously crippled high speed line may start, in some form, to make a contribution to serving Crewe.

Even now, Shrewsbury to Euston via Crewe can beat the route via Birmingham. The 05:28 from Shrewsbury to Crewe may be the train of choice for an office start in London - with the disadvantage that advance fares aside, there are no through fares quoted for that route.

Mark

Turning to the reliability stats, from the web site recentraintimes, in 2024 the service has already seen seven cancellations for the 07:04 from Shrewsbury, including a run of three from Friday 9th February. The site also indicates that it tends to arrive at Euston a little late tho' not sure where the site gets its average figure for the arrival time of 10:15.

Mark

https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/ (https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/)

https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Search?Op=Srch&Fr=Shrewsbury+%28SHR%29&To=London+Euston+%28EUS%29&TimTyp=D&TimDay=4a&Days=Wk&TimPer=12w&dtFr=02%2F12%2F2023&dtTo=24%2F02%2F2024&ShwTim=AvAr&MxArCl=38&ShwAdv=ShwAdv&TOC=All&ArrSta=5&MetAvg=Mea&MetSpr=RT&MxScDu=&MxSvAg=10&MnScCt=2 (https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Search?Op=Srch&Fr=Shrewsbury+%28SHR%29&To=London+Euston+%28EUS%29&TimTyp=D&TimDay=4a&Days=Wk&TimPer=12w&dtFr=02%2F12%2F2023&dtTo=24%2F02%2F2024&ShwTim=AvAr&MxArCl=38&ShwAdv=ShwAdv&TOC=All&ArrSta=5&MetAvg=Mea&MetSpr=RT&MxScDu=&MxSvAg=10&MnScCt=2)

There's an Open Access Operator about to bid, isn't there.

This is another example of the DfT not paying for services extended further than an operator's core services.
cf SWR's Bristol services.