Shrewsbury MP meets rail bosses and pushes for improvements to Shropshire's train services
Rail bosses visited Shrewsbury station with the town’s MP this week to look at a raft of potential improvements to train services and to the station itself.
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Shrewsbury's Labour MP Julia Buckley and officials from Network Rail and Transport for Wales met at the station on Tuesday to discuss the economic case for investment in the county town to boost the capacity of rail services.
Mrs Buckley and the rail officials were also joined by leader of Shrewsbury Town Council, Councillor Alan Mosley; Shropshire Council programme manager Tim Pritchard; and Seb Slater, executive director of Shrewsbury Business Improvement District (BID).
The bosses had a comprehensive tour of the station buildings and also the nearby Dana footpath, the station gyratory system and the building’s forecourt.
“Several exciting ideas and projects were discussed,” said Mrs Buckley. “These included ideas for expanding Platform 3 which would increase the weight limit, provide direct routes to Crewe, and release capacity from Platform 4 to allow more frequent services with more carriages.
“The case for this was demonstrated by the team from Network Rail.
“All parties agreed there was considerable latent demand for more capacity through our station – the busiest in the region outside of Cardiff.
“Tim Pritchard from Shropshire Council, Seb from the BID and Alan from the town council all made the case for increased pedestrian and cyclist access to the station, and how future developments of housing on Riverside could deliver town centre dwellers with a desire to commute more frequently.”
The visit to Shrewsbury was arranged after Mrs Buckley had met Network Rail officials at a parliamentary liaison event in Westminster. “It was then that I persuaded them to visit the town to understand the economic case for investment to boost capacity - and this was the first station that they’ve visited as part of their research.
“I also made the case this week that the new Labour Government is keen to find schemes for investment that align with their values on increased public transport, which can deliver an impact in terms of improved quality of life for passengers, and economic benefit for the area. Our scheme would offer both and can deliver quick high impact for very good value for money.
“The next steps are for the partners to progress the Shrewsbury Plan into a business case for funding request from Government. The stakeholders are keen to work together to make this a reality.”
