The Wrexham & Shropshire Railway Co today welcomed the Office of the Rail Regulation’s (ORR) decision to approve the company’s proposals to run new direct rail services between North Wales, Shropshire and London Marylebone.

The ORR has announced that it has approved in principle Wrexham & Shropshire’s Track Access Agreement with Network Rail, which will allow the company to finalise plans to run trains from spring 2008.

Andy Hamilton, Managing Director of Wrexham & Shropshire, said: “We are delighted to have received the go-ahead to run this new direct rail service. Though there is much to do, we are well prepared - staff recruitment has been underway for some time and we are delighted that we can now confirm employment contracts and start training our team.”

The evaluation process leading to this positive outcome has been thorough and demanding, stretching back over a year since the Wrexham & Shropshire Board first presented its proposals to the ORR. Wrexham & Shropshire believes that the ORR's decision is a vindication not only of the company's own efforts but of those made on its behalf by its many supporters throughout the West Midlands, Shropshire and Wales.

Andy Hamilton continued: “We have been working hard for some time now to get to this point and we would like to thank everyone who has supported our proposals so enthusiastically from the start. The Board would also like to publicly acknowledge the hard and sustained work undertaken by Network Rail in helping to bring about this welcome result. We now look forward to working in partnership with other train companies to provide a fast, reliable and comfortable rail service for our passengers.”
Passenger services are currently expected to start in spring 2008, once the company has completed the refurbishment of its trains. Further details of Wrexham & Shropshire’s new service will be announced over the coming months, with confirmation of the launch date expected in the New Year.