Wrexham on track for direct trains to London next year
The Guardian|March 14, 2024
Direct trains could connect Wrexham to London from next year, with a new service capitalising on the town’s Hollywood-meets-football mini-boom.
Gwyn Topham
Wrexham on track for direct trains to London next year

The t rain manufacturer Alstom is bidding to set up the Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway with a promise of cheaper, more comfortable trains to London.

The three-hour journey to Euston may not persuade the Wrexham AFC co-owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney , to ditch the private jets, but the operator hopes to make the greener alternative to and from the Welsh borders more attractive.

Dodging a wait in Birmingham will be one selling point for passengers . Trains will skirt around the city on a little-used freight route, opening up new connections from Shropshire to Warwickshire.

An application to run fi ve trains a day from May 2025 has been submitted to the rail regulator, the ORR . The service would be run on an open access basis outside the main train operating contracts set by the Department for Transport.

This story is from the March 14, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

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This story is from the March 14, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

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