Rail transport in Shropshire
The English county of Shropshire has a fairly large railway network, with 19 National Rail stations on various national lines; there are also a small number of heritage and freight lines, including the famous heritage Severn Valley Railway running along its eastern border with Worcestershire.
The majority of the county's public rail services are run by Transport for Wales Rail; the remainder are run by West Midlands Trains (under their West Midlands Railway brand) and Avanti West Coast.
National Rail services
National Rail services in Shropshire are centred about
There are no electrified railways, as such, in the county despite the surrounding railway nodes of
Freight only lines
There are two freight only lines in operation in the
There is also the short Abbey Loop line in Shrewsbury which is generally only used by freight trains.
Historically, after the closure of the 'Potts' Line in 1960, the former Shrewsbury Abbey Station became an Esso oil terminal. The line utilised a short stub of the closed Severn Valley line from Sutton Bridge Junction before being reversed and switched towards the terminal. The terminal was closed in July 1988 and the line was subsequently removed.
The
Former railways
There are many closed lines in Shropshire, including
- Shrewsbury to Hereford line and passing briefly through Herefordshire through Tenbury Wells, Cleobury Mortimer, and then into Worcestershire to Bewdley
- Cleobury Mortimer and Ditton Priors Light Railway
- Bishop's Castle Railway was a 19+1⁄2 mile line running from just north of Craven Arms station to Bishop's Castle
- Severn Valley Railway; although part of the southern section has been restored, the line used to continue north from Bridgnorth to Sutton Bridge Junction in Shrewsbury
- Wellington via Much Wenlock and a junction with the Severn Valley Railway at Buildwas. A small section of this line has been reopened as the Telford Steam Railway. There was also a branch via Madeley to Shifnal.
- Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway (the 'Potts Railway'), an 18-mile line from Shrewsbury Abbey to Llanymynech with a branch to Criggion
- Minsterley branch line was a 9-mile line from Shrewsbury station to Minsterley, with a further branch to Snailbeach
- Wellington to Donnington in 2008. It is hoped the next phase would be to reconnect Newport to the railway network. The line is in the top 36 'Lines that should reopen' listing published by the Campaign for Better Transport.
- Wellington to Nantwich in Cheshire, via Market Drayton, with another line running into Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire from Market Drayton
- Oswestry to Newtown, passing through Shropshire
- Oswestry, Ellesmere and Whitchurch Railway, a constituent line of the Cambrian Railways system
- The
- Wrexham and Ellesmere Railway, a constituent line of the Cambrian Railways system which ran for a short distance within Shropshire
- Whitchurch and Tattenhall Railway which ran for a short distance in Shropshire before passing into Cheshire
Many were closed in the 1960s, although the county did not fare too badly under
Heritage railways
There are three heritage railways in Shropshire: the Severn Valley Railway from Bridgnorth en-route to Kidderminster (in Worcestershire), the Telford Steam Railway at Horsehay & Dawley, and two restored stretches of the Cambrian Railways, being run by Cambrian Heritage Railways between Oswestry and Weston Wharf, and between Llynclys South and Penygarreg Lane in Pant.
Cambrian Heritage Railways also (since taking on the former Cambrian Railway Society CRS) aims to restore part of the
As well as the heritage only lines, the national lines of Shropshire witness a regular number of special charter trains with heritage diesel and steam locomotives and historic carriage stock in operation.
Stations
Here are listed the 19 National Rail stations in current use in the county.
| Station | Place | 2015/16 usage[2] | 2016/17 usage[2] | 2017/18 usage[2] | Managed by | Co-ordinates | Line | Distance from Shrewsbury | Platforms | Request stop? | DFT station category |
| Albrighton railway station | Albrighton |
95,322 | 99,380 | 98,972 | West Midlands Trains | 52°38′16″N 2°16′06″W / 52.63778°N 2.2683°W | Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton | 35 km (21+3⁄4 miles) | 2 | No | F2 |
| Broome railway station | Broome / Aston on Clun | 1,564 | 782 | 1,150 | Transport for Wales | 52°25′23″N 2°53′06″W / 52.423°N 2.885°W | Heart of Wales |
36.5 km (22+3⁄4 miles) | 1 | Yes | F2 |
| Bucknell railway station | Bucknell | 5,696 | 5,516 | 4,324 | Transport for Wales | 52°21′26″N 2°56′53″W / 52.3573°N 2.948°W | Heart of Wales | 45.5 km (28+1⁄4 miles) | 1 | Yes | F2 |
| Church Stretton railway station | Church Stretton | 127,748 | 132,352 | 130,380 | Transport for Wales | 52°32′13″N 2°48′11″W / 52.537°N 2.803°W | Welsh Marches |
20.5 km (12+3⁄4 miles) | 2 | No | F1 |
| Cosford railway station | Air Museum ) |
81,530 | 84,384 | 87,626 | West Midlands Trains | 52°38′41″N 2°18′00″W / 52.6448°N 2.3°W | Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton | 32.5 km (20+1⁄4 miles) | 2 | No | F2 |
| Craven Arms railway station | Craven Arms | 109,478 | 100,914 | 96,996 | Transport for Wales | 52°26′31″N 2°50′13″W / 52.442°N 2.837°W | Welsh Marches (junction with Heart of Wales) | 32 km (20 mi) | 2 | No | F1 |
| Gobowen railway station | Gobowen (alight here for a bus service to Oswestry) | 213,900 | 221,138 | 218,684 | Transport for Wales | 52°53′37″N 3°02′14″W / 52.8935°N 3.0371°W | Shrewsbury-Chester | 28.5 km (17+3⁄4 miles) | 2 | No | E |
| Hopton Heath railway station1 | Hopton Heath | 1,754 | 1,332 | 1,006 | Transport for Wales | 52°23′29″N 2°54′43″W / 52.3915°N 2.912°W | Heart of Wales | 41 km (25+1⁄2 miles) | 1 | Yes | F2 |
| Knighton railway station | Knighton2 | 21,626 | 20,714 | 21,440 | Transport for Wales | 52°20′42″N 3°02′31″W / 52.345°N 3.042°W | Heart of Wales | 52.5 km (32+1⁄2 miles) | 2 | No | F1 |
| Ludlow railway station | Ludlow | 299,776 | 299,802 | 300,742 | Transport for Wales | 52°22′16″N 2°42′58″W / 52.371°N 2.716°W | Welsh Marches | 44 km (27+1⁄2 miles) | 2 | No | E |
| Oakengates railway station | Oakengates | 55,830 | 59,006 | 67,408 | West Midlands Trains | 52°41′35″N 2°27′00″W / 52.693°N 2.450°W | Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton | 21.5 km (13+1⁄2 miles) | 2 | No | F2 |
| Prees railway station | near Prees |
6,674 | 6,838 | 7,374 | Transport for Wales | 52°53′57″N 2°41′22″W / 52.8992°N 2.6895°W | Welsh Marches | 22.5 km (14.0 mi) | 2 | Yes | F2 |
| Shifnal railway station | Shifnal | 144,532 | 166,046 | 181,702 | West Midlands Trains | 52°39′58″N 2°22′19″W / 52.666°N 2.372°W | Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton | 28 km (17+1⁄4 miles) | 2 | No | F2 |
| Shrewsbury railway station | Shrewsbury | 1,979,248 | 2,087,820 | 2,211,520 | Transport for Wales | 52°42′43″N 2°45′00″W / 52.712°N 2.75°W | Junction of several lines | n/a | 5 | No | C1 |
| Telford Central railway station | Town Centre |
1,139,070 | 1,207,406 | 1,211,078 | West Midlands Trains | 52°40′52″N 2°26′28″W / 52.681°N 2.441°W | Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton | 23 km (14+1⁄4 miles) | 2 | No | C2 |
Wellington (Shropshire) railway station |
Wellington | 631,176 | 665,778 | 693,438 | West Midlands Trains | 52°42′05″N 2°31′01″W / 52.7015°N 2.517°W | Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton | 16 km (9.9 mi) | 3 | No | E |
| Wem railway station | Wem | 100,678 | 105,044 | 110,636 | Transport for Wales | 52°51′22″N 2°43′08″W / 52.856°N 2.719°W | Welsh Marches | 17 km (10+3⁄4 miles) | 2 | No | F1 |
| Whitchurch (Shropshire) railway station | Whitchurch | 125,430 | 138,246 | 140,746 | Transport for Wales | 52°58′05″N 2°40′18″W / 52.968°N 2.6716°W | Welsh Marches | 30 km (18+3⁄4 miles) | 2 | No | F1 |
| Yorton railway station | Yorton / Clive |
9,304 | 8,788 | 7,686 | Transport for Wales | 52°48′32″N 2°44′10″W / 52.809°N 2.736°W | Welsh Marches | 11.5 km (7+1⁄4 miles) | 2 | Yes | F2 |
1 Sometimes written as "Hoptonheath".
2 Although the town of Knighton is in Powys, Wales, the railway station is in Shropshire, England.
Tunnels
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There are four railway tunnels in use at present in Shropshire:
- Oakengates Tunnel- the longest tunnel in the county, located between Oakengates and Telford Central stations, on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton Line
- Ludlow Tunnel- a short tunnel just to the south of Ludlow station, on the Welsh Marches Line
- Heath Hill Tunnel - located between Lawley Common and Horsehay on the Telford Steam Railway, this tunnel was reopened to trains with track relayed through it in early 2009, as part of the heritage railway's northward extension to Lawley
- Knowlesands Tunnel - a very short tunnel on the Severn Valley Railway, located between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade
A notable disused tunnel exists running beneath High Town of Bridgnorth, which once carried the railway from Bridgnorth station northwards towards the Ironbridge Gorge. The tunnel continues to be maintained and is in good condition. There is the possibility of the Severn Valley Railway extending northwards through the tunnel, with the tunnel's owner BRB (Residuary) Ltd offering the heritage railway first refusal, however there would be substantial difficulties in reinstating the railway beyond the tunnel to the north of Bridgnorth.
See also
References
- ^ "Direct rail services from Shropshire to London will start on December 14". Shropshire Star. 22 September 2014.
- ^ a b c Office for Rail Regulation Archived 4 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine Station usage figures