A Plea For A Shropshire Metro
Shrewsbury station is not one of the best stations, as I remarked in Passing Through Shrewsbury Station.
Clean toilets and a Starbucks doth not a station make!
I was drawn to this letter in the Shropshire Star, which was entitled Better rail investment would reduce problems on the roads.
The writer details some of the problems on the five rail lines that meet at Shrewsbury, which they start with this paragraph about the lack of parkway stations.
Shropshire, in particular, could benefit enormously from reopening old stations in the form of parkways or even parkways near to where stations used to be. Thus the five lines running into Shrewsbury are badly serving the public except the one from Crewe which does still have small stations, utilised occasionally but could be improved by upgrading to parkways and additions.
The writer also says that Hereford is just as bad.
This map shows the lines meeting at Shresbury.
The lines meeting at Shrewsbury station are as follows.
- Shrewsbury to Chester Line with 4 open and 14 closed stations before Chester.
- Welsh Marches Line to Crewe, with 6 open and 4 closed stations before Crewe.
- Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line, with 8 open and 5 closed stations before Wolverhampton
- Cambrian Line, with no open and 6 closed stations before Welshpool.
- Welsh Marches Line to Hereford, with 4 open and 15 closed stations before Hereford.
There certainly were a lot more stations in the past.
But it does appear that some new stations are in the pipeline.
Adnaston
Admaston is a possible reopened station on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton Line.
Baschurch
Baschurch is a possible reopened station on the Chester to Shrewsbury Line.
Cefn
Cefn is a possible reopened station on the Shrewsbury to Chester Line.
Hadnall is a possible reopened station on the Welsh Marches Line.
Johnstown
Johnstown is a possible reopened station on the Shrewsbury to Chester Line.
Meole Brace
Meole Brace is a possible new station in Shrewsbury.
Conclusion
It looks like the letter writer’s plea has been answered.
Putting four trains per hour on all of the routes from the centre at Shrewsbury would probably create a more than acceptable system.
It looks like the trains would have to be diesels, as I can’t see much electrification in this area.
But who knows what will happen, if someone develops a fast charge system for a hybrid/battery train, that could be implemented at Chester, Hereford, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton?
Three Of The Worst Stations In England
On my trip home from Swansea via the Heart of Wales Line and an overnight stop with friends in Ludlow, I came through three of the worst stations, I have encountered in England; Craven Arms, Ludlow and Shrewsbury.
Craven Arms
Craven Arms station has minimal facilities to say the least.
It certainly fails the Gert and Daisy Test.
Gert and Daisy are two elderly and very independent, travel-savvy sisters, who live in different parts of the country. Neither drives and they have arranged to go to see their first great-granddaughter, whose parents live a few miles from the station. Train times mean that they arrive within fifteen minutes from different directions and their grandson has arranged to pick them up when they’ve both arrived.
The one problem in this plan is the station, as there is no comfortable place to wait and there is no mobile signal to send a text message to their grandson to announce their arrival.
Luckily it’s a warm and sunny summer’s day.
I would like to see a law, that every station and bus stop in the country has a decent mobile signal.
In my case, I had to wait half-an-hour on a draughty station with nothing to do, as I had read the paper and there was no mobile signal to use for entertainment.
Ludlow
Ludlow station isn’t that much higher up the facilities league table.
All I needed was a taxi and the information was a set of cards on the counter in the Ticket Office.
But there was no mobile signal and eventually a passing taxi-driver took pity on me.
The station was very much an information-free zone, with not even any signs as to how to find a bus.
But surely, the most serious thing about Ludlkow station was that in the morning, the train informastion displays weren’t working, as I suspect the mobile signal they needed wasn’t available.
My phone certainly wasn’t working and it didn’t work until I got to Shrewsbury.
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury station may have seven platforms and a few trains, but it is definitely short on facilities as I said in Shrewsbury Station.
What Is To Be Done
I have to admit, that I’ve seen stations like these treated with contempt before.
When I moved back to London in 2010, some of the stations like Rectory Road, Clapton and Manor Park, to name just three were a disgrace.
In those days, they were managed by Abellio Greater Anglia from Norwich and any complaints were put down to whingeing Londoners.
Now that these stations are all managed by Transport for London, things have got much better.
All of the three stations are run by Arriva Trains Wales, so I suspect any complaints about the stations are filed under whingeing English.
Probably too, with trains devolved to the Welsh Assembly, Arriva Trains Wales are probably under close control from their paymasters in Cardiff.
I think that the most important thing to be done would be to put the management of these stations under control of Shropshire County Council.
Incidentally, all of the trains, I rode in the area were busy and my scheduling experience probably says that the area needs more services with more carriages.
Wolverhampton To Shrewsbury
Perhaps the solution at Shrewsbury is to up the frequency of trains between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton to create better access between the fast-growing West Midlands and Shropshire.
The service at the moment looks to be about two trains per hour (tph), but it is by no means clock face, which has been shown to increase passenger numbers.
Hereford
Going South from Ludlow, the first major city and station you come to is Hereford.
It is much better served by trains than Shrewsbury, with services to London and Birmingham.
In addition to Arriva Trains Wales, services are provided by London Midland and Great Western Railway.
I also think, that now that a new station has been created at Bromsgrove, that London Midland or the new franchisee might have plans to develop services from Birmingham to Worcester and Hereford.
Hereford, Shrewsbury And The Welsh Marches Line
The services between Hereford and Shrewsbury to Birmingham are vaguely similar , with about 2-3 tph, with trains taking between an hour and ninety m,inutes.
But neither service is clock-face and likely to attract customers on the trurn-up-and-go principle. They are more likely to drive to Birmingham or perhaps a Park-and-Ride station like Bromsgrove.
But on the Welsh Marches Line connecting Hereford and Shrewsbury, the service is less frequent and if my experiences at Ludlow and Craven Arms are typical, the information systems and the trains, are not conducive to attracting passengers.
- The trains are fine, but infrequent, crowded and managed by the Welsh Assembly.
- Mobile phone coverage is not much better that the 1980s in Suffolk.
- Broadband is not the best.
Perhaps the solution to the trains is to run a loop service from Wolverhampton to Birmingham via the following stations.
- Telford
- Wellington
- Shrewsbury
- Craven Arms
- Ludlow
- Leominster
- Hereford
- Worcester
- Bromsgrove
If it were run by London Midland, it would be a partial solution to the transport problems of those English towns along the Welsh Border.
Passing Through Shrewsbury Station
Returning from Ludlow, I came back via Shrewsbury station.
For a important place and railway interchange, the station is really not up to much, with the only facilities being toilets and a Starbucks.
Carling Cup at Shrewsbury
After Ironbridge I headed towards Shrewsbury and after a glass of rose wine in the Mytton and Mermaid Hotel at Atcham, I arrived in the town about six forty-five. I should say that the hotel looked magnificent, but at the time I was there, they didn’t have any snacks at all, as they close the kitchens from about four until six-thirty. They didn’t have any decent cider either! Only Strongbow and Magners! I thought that you got good cider in that part of the country.
Do these people want business?
I mean everybody was pleasant and welcoming, but us coeliacs are a prickly lot and we need to graze consistently. That reminds me, I need some more cake. Gluten-free ginger slices from Waitrose.
Now I had made one mistake in that I’d assumed that Shrewsbury still played at the wonderfully named Gay Meadow, which used to be by the River Severn. Legend has it that there was a man in a coracle ready to retrieve any balls that went that way. Will certain US web sites translate the word Gay in this post to something else, just like they do for the American sprinter, Tyson Gay?
As I approached the town centre, there was a reassuring sign with a P and a football on it. After half a mile, I found another sign pointing the way I’d come with P and “Gay Meadow” on it. As there was no sign of any football supporters, I even checked my match ticket to make sure, I’d got the right day. In the end because I needed fuel for the Lotus, I broke a habit of several years and went into Asda to get some. (I always buy products if I can from British companies first, when I have a choice and it doesn’t cost me more!)
Even the guy there was unsure, but eventually I found myself in an area with signs saying “No Football Parking” and people in recognisable Ipswich shirts walking along the road. The area bore no relation to the first sign I’d seen, so I guess it must be some dark plot to get people lost in Shrewsbury. What fate would have awaited me?
Shrewsbury Town's ProStar Stadium
This shows the new ground, the ProStar Stadium, as you approach it over the railway. I then followed others over a fence and down an embankment to cut the corner off getting to the ground. Why don’t architects work out how people will walk and cycle into a site and then create entrances accordingly? In this case, they could have put steps down to make it safer. But then people might fall down the steps in a large crowd and the club would get sued!
Inside the Ground
This shows the inside of the ground, which at present has a capacity of just under 10,000, with everybody in seats. It is typical of some of the modern grounds that we are starting to see in English football. It would also appear that when clubs make this investment wisely, they seem to move up a division. Look at Doncaster and Blackpool for a start. Perhaps, it’s just that you get more bums on seats and a better cashflow, which means better players. And also if I was a footballer, I’d prefer to play in a modern stadium with good facilities and a good pitch.
Shrewsbury's Mascot
Ipswich had brought a sizable crowd and the picture shows the mascot throwing sweets to them. I actually got one, but was it gluten-free? I didn’t chance the glucose in it and gave it away.
Ipswich always have a large support away and I suspect this is because it has a very large diaspora. You always meet locals at away matches, who used to go to Portman Road, when they lived in Suffolk and still follow Town at a distance. Perhaps the funniest thing was when I was in Moscow, I met a genuine Scouser, who had always supported Town. He’d obviously grown up in the 1970s and 80s and did it just to be difficult!
The match was entertaining and at full time and after extra time it was three-all. But then Ipswich won easily on penalties. I’m not sure how the Shrewsbury fans liked being taunted with the chant, “You’re just a small town in Wales!”
After the Shoot-Out
Phew!
Are We Tourism Friendly?
I am going to see Ipswich play at Shrewsbury tonight. Let’s hope it’s better than Sunday.
So I thought I’d leave about lunchtime, go to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum and then have a meal in a decent restaurant before the match. Or have a decent lunch, then go to the Museum.
But!
The Ironbridge Gorge Museum shuts at five! In other words you arrive after lunch and have probably about two hours to explore. Surely, if we want to encourage people to stay at home, then museums should be open much later in the summer. Especially, as with Britain’s variable weather, we need to try just that bit harder.
As to restaurants, there is nothing in the area in the Good Food Guide. Not necessarily definitive, but it’s always a good pointer as to the eating experience. No restaurants at all, usually means nobody tries.
The Anonymous Widower 