NEWSROOM

Services between Shrewsbury and Birmingham International have previously been terminated and turned back at Wolverhampton. Councillor Ollie Vickers, Cabinet Member for The Economy wrote to Transport for Wales earlier this week and called for action including the: “Return of full services to the line as soon as possible, share the impact over the wider network, and to communicate with the council on reliability issues.”

“Telford & Wrekin is an ambitious town, and we need reliable public transport to ensure that our residents can get to work, businesses have confidence in investing here and our students can get to places of learning.”

After speaking with commuters, like Patrick featured in the video, Councillor Vickers also asked what immediate action will be taken to improve services and passenger confidence going forward.

Telford & Wrekin Council is working with Transport for Wales to resolve pressure on commuters that increasingly experience issues around service reliability, cancellation of services due to overcrowding, availability, especially in autumn and the length of time taken to introduce new trains on the line.

The council will continue to lobby on behalf of residents. The latest letter is available here. 

_____________________

Dear Jan (Chief Operations Officer)

RE: Temporary changes to Birmingham to Shrewsbury Services due to shortage of rolling stock

I understand from correspondence last week that all services between Shrewsbury and Birmingham International will be terminating and turning back at Wolverhampton until at least Friday 22 November. As you will be aware this decision will significantly impact the borough’s connectivity with the West Midlands and beyond.

The service amends are against a backdrop of a service decline on this important rail line for quite some time.
Our residents are regularly experiencing issues with:

• Service reliability
• Cancellation of services at Wellington and Telford Central due to overcrowding
• Short-forming of services and associated over crowding
• Regular issues with train availability, especially in autumn
• Significant time taken to introduce new units, some of which have been parked in the borough for a number of years

All of the above places undue pressure on the infrastructure and is reducing confidence in the ability to travel on the rail network. Whilst I appreciate the operational reasons why there is a shortage of units in this situation, when taken with wider issues the impact on our residents and businesses is significant.
I call on Transport for Wales to look at all alternative options including:

• Return of full services to the line as soon as possible
• To share the impact of this over the wider TfW network, and not solely remove services on the Shrewsbury to Birmingham line
• Communicate with the council on the wider service reliability issues and what immediate action will be taken to improve services and passenger confidence

Telford & Wrekin is an ambitious town, and we need reliable public transport to ensure that our residents can get to work, businesses have confidence in investing here and our students can get to places of learning.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Lee Carter
Leader - Telford & Wrekin Council Cabinet

Councillor Ollie Vickers
Member for the Economy