Radio Features

Wrexham and Shropshire declared the first year of their direct rail service from North Wales to London as a success. Managing director, Andy Hamilton said the company was getting excellent feedback from passengers and the business was growing.

Shrewsbury Railway Station

Mr Hamilton said much of the feedback was complimentary, but there was also room for improvement. Hamilton admitted there was an issue with punctuality: "I think we've got to get the reliability of our trains a little bit better. About 85% of our trains are getting into London and coming out on time and we want that to be nearer to 95%."

Two trains have been taken out of service because too few people were travelling on them: "We are just being realistic about the economic climate. We recognise that there is a downturn at the moment. We want to make sure we can weather the storm."

More and more people are using the direct train to London: "Over the Easter weeks we found that some of our trains were getting very full. So we now need to consider, do we put the fifth train back or do we make the trains a coach longer?"

The plans have now been abandoned and Mr Hamilton suggested Virgin Trains should concentrate on what they do best, which is running high speed train services between London and the major cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow.

He said there was plenty of business to go round: "Both of us have got enough people to go at. There are plenty of people on the M6. We've got to get them off."