Alstom plans to operate a new passenger rail service across England and Wales. In partnership with consultancy SLC Rail, this service will operate under the name Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway (WSMR).
Already the country’s leading provider of trains and rail services and the country’s leading signaling and infrastructure provider, Alstom will operate its own rail service in the UK for the first time. The aim is to create a direct connection, which does not exist today, between North Wales, Shropshire, the Midlands and London. It will thus connect growing regions and businesses and make train journeys more practical, more pleasant and more accessible.
WSMR will offer passengers from Wrexham, Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Walsall and Coleshill a direct link to the capital, as well as to Darlaston once its new station opens. In the meantime, journey times between Shrewsbury and Walsall will be significantly reduced compared to the current solution.
WSMR is scheduled to be commissioned as early as 2025. It is expected to create around 50 new jobs, mainly in North Wales and the Midlands. The offer provides for a service of 5 trains per day in each direction from Monday to Saturday, and 4 trains in both directions on Sunday. WSMR is expected to serve an area of around 1.5 million people outside London, a population expected to grow by 16% over the next decade.
This article is originally published on boursier.com
