Wrexham & Shropshire launch date

[whole diary]

[willc]

Not sure if this is the best place, but since Banbury is the only point where Wrexham & Shropshire touches the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) network, here goes.

Wrexham & Shrophire's passenger service launch date will be Monday, April 28.
See http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/item.php?id=22&type=1

As they are still waiting for their own refurbished Mk3 coaches to arrive - held up by the delays at Marcroft in Stoke completing the Grand Central fleet - they are going to hire Mk3s from Cargo-D's charter fleet to start operations. Not clear yet if they will be DVT^‡(resolve)-operated at the start, or top and tail 67s, which the test trains are. W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator)) trains will stop at Banbury to pick up northbound passengers and drop off southbound, running non-stop to and from Marylebone.

Traction will be hired EWS^▸ (English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd, now known as DB Schenker Rail (UK^▸ (United Kingdom))) Class 67s in a special livery (67012-15). Couple have been finished at Toton so far, see http://geoffdoncaster18.fotopic.net/p49463043.html

I have seen a suggestion that they are going to be running a full shadow service in the timetabled paths from April 22, to get staff in the swing of things, ahead of the public launch - probably hoping to avoid the problems that have dogged Grand Central - and there are a lot of training trips out there already.

There was some discussion previously of this service and Virgin's new Wrexham peak train to and from London Euston in the Pullman thread in Across the West.

Virgin will be running a five-car Voyager (extension of existing Chester services) but this is a pretty cynical spoiling move, as they have never shown any interest in the town until now.

In any case, W&S's real target is Shropshire, where Virgin's name is mud, after they took over from BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) with loud promises about reinstating through trains from London to Telford and Shrewsbury, then discovered why BR had stopped doing it - the expense of having a diesel and driver specially at Wolverhampton and paying for shunters to couple and uncouple the loco - and dropped the service again.

There is also likely to be good demand at the stations between Shrewsbury and Wrexham, which, up until the end of the BR diesel operations, had at least one service direct from London on Friday evenings, which ran through to Chester (does anyone know if there was a return on Sundays, I'm not sure about that?). Journey times are quite long, but I'm sure the convenience of the through trains will be a winner with a lot of people.

[Lee]

More on this from the Save The Train Forum including a willc article (link below.)
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6724.msg11259#msg11259

[Btline]

I, too, think that Virign are mean for doing that.

It will just steal a high proportion of the profit peak passengers!

And, if the Shrewsbury service is successful, I would not stop thinking that Virgin might have a re-think.

 

[Lee]

Further Oxford Mail article link.
http://www.oxfordmail.net/news/headlines/display.var.2184501.0.new_train_link_on_line.php

[Tinminer]

Further Oxford Mail article link.
http://www.oxfordmail.net/news/headlines/display.var.2184501.0.new_train_link_on_line.php

I'm intrigued by the 'rail competition rules'.

How do these come (and not come) into play, and who decides?

There are obviously several routes that operate over the same path, but use different operators (e.g South West Trains and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) between London & Torquay/Plymouth/ Exeter). I know it is a different London terminus, but it is still London!

Don't Chiltern Trains (or whatever they are called now) also cover Banbury, as well as FGW?

[swlines]

The rail competition rules are really only in the West Coast mainline franchise agreement - this is due to the amount of potential loss there was to be made in this particular franchise, as a result no open access operator are permitted to directly compete with Virgin West Coast unless instructed to do so by the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about).

[Steve44]

Also.. The banbury stop on the route is only for picking up north-bound passengers, and dropping off south-bound, so it won't really affect chiltern or FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

[Tinminer]

Also.. The banbury stop on the route is only for picking up north-bound passengers, and dropping off south-bound, so it won't really affect chiltern or FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

Yes, that was my point!

If Banbury residents could catch Wrexham & Shropshire (W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator))) trains to London, instead of FGW or Chiltern it would:

1. Make fares more competitive.
2. Reduce over-crowding.
3. Make the W&S more viable.

But, hey, I'm stupid, privatising the railways was not about improving service, or choice, or the experience for passengers was it?

[gwr2006]

Also.. The banbury stop on the route is only for picking up north-bound passengers, and dropping off south-bound, so it won't really affect chiltern or FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

Yes, that was my point!

If Banbury residents could catch Wrexham & Shropshire (W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator))) trains to London, instead of FGW or Chiltern it would:

1. Make fares more competitive.
2. Reduce over-crowding.
3. Make the W&S more viable.

But, hey, I'm stupid, privatising the railways was not about improving service, or choice, or the experience for passengers was it?

5 trains each weekday, 4 on Saturdays and 3 on Sunday is not going to have any impact on fares or over-crowding, when there are 2 direct trains each hour to London (and 2 more each hour with connections via Oxford).

[swlines]

It could have an impact on fares, remember, Grand Central only run three trains a day yet NXEC^▸ (National Express East Coast) essentially forced ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies See - here) to force GC^» (Great Central Railway - link to heritage line) to introduce a peak time supplement!

[willc]

If Banbury residents could catch Wrexham & Shropshire (W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator))) trains to London, instead of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) or Chiltern

Half of W&S is owned by Laing Rail, aka Deutsche Bahn, the parent company of Chiltern Railways, so not a competitive issue there.

I'm not entirely sure how Banbury gets into the West Coast franchise competition clauses equation (and does anyone other than Virgin, DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about)'s lawyers know what it all means really?), but I have always understood that was why it was pick-up and set-down only there, as with Wolverhampton.

It is probably over the revenue-splitting arrangements in the West Midlands. CrossCountry links Wolverhampton and Banbury, and shares West Coast tracks north of Coventry or Birmingham, so I think that is where the answer lies.

Certainly it's not about Laing Rail competing with itself for traffic from Banbury to and from London and no-one does the journey on FGW as it takes far longer via Oxford and Reading.

[swlines]

It is probably over the revenue-splitting arrangements in the West Midlands. CrossCountry links Wolverhampton and Banbury, and shares West Coast tracks north of Coventry or Birmingham, so I think that is where the answer lies.

From what I understand of the situation that's the actual reason but there are a few more complicating issues other than that (please don't ask me to go through them as I don't completely understand a few of the contractual reasons myself - seem rather pointless to me).

[willc]

W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator)) website is now ready for start of services, with fares and other ticket information - emphasis on getting tickets texted to your mobile phone, online purchase not up-and-running just yet - plus on board services.

http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/index.php

For more info and pictures of test trains this week, see http://www.nwrail.org.uk

Click on the noticeboard news and views link on the homepage.

[Btline]

looks excellent.

Hopefully the Virgin service will not affect it too much; they will be established by December, they have more of a personal/friendly touch, their journey time might be quicker in the next timetable!

[Lee]

willc article link on today's launch.
http://www.oxfordmail.net/news/headlines/display.var.2228624.0.new_rail_link_takes_to_tracks.php