Cllr Stuart Parr wrote to Mark Pritchard MP this week regarding the decision by Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway to exclude Wellington from its proposed new Wrexham to London route.

The new proposed rail service to London from Wrexham will not include a stop at Wellington which I'm sure you'll agree it's disappointing and illogical.

Wellington is the second largest town in Shropshire, the train station is well used and it diverts road traffic away from the A442 and Telford town centre which is already very busy at peak times.

Personally, I would rather catch the existing service that changes at Wolverhampton or Birmingham than drive to Telford Central and pay an unreasonable amount to park just to shave a bit of time off the journey by going direct. Relatively few people actually live around Telford Central whereas Wellington station is in the middle of Telford's largest population area.

The news has not been well received locally and understandably so. I wonder if you might make representation to the regulator to have Wellington included in the proposed service?

Mark's response is as follows:

The Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway (WSMR) has today submitted an application to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to introduce new daily train services during 2025 between Wrexham General and London Euston, serving existing rail stations at Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Telford Central, Wolverhampton, Coleshill Parkway, Nuneaton, and Milton Keynes Central - but not Wellington.

I have already written to the Rail Minister and to the Chief Executive of the ORR to call for them to recognise the importance of maintaining direct train services between Shropshire and London which stop at Wellington, and to review the WSMR proposals with that firmly in mind.

The WSMR proposals will not have my full support unless Wellington is added to the timetable - and I have made the Rail Minister and ORR Chief Executive aware of that.