Wolverhampton–Shrewsbury line

The Wolverhampton–Shrewsbury line is the railway line from Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury via Wellington; it was originally built by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway. The line is double track throughout, with rarely used relief sidings at Cosford and four tracks through Wellington station.

Wolverhampton–Shrewsbury line
Overview
OwnerNetwork Rail
LocaleShropshire
Wolverhampton
Staffordshire
Shrewsbury and Atcham
West Midlands (region)
Telford and Wrekin
Service
Rolling stockClass 150 "Sprinter"
Class 153 "Super Sprinter
Class 158 "Express Sprinter"
Class 170 "Turbostar"
Class 175 "Coradia"
Class 221 "Super Voyager"
Technical
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line
Shrewsbury–
Chester line
Welsh Marches line
Cambrian line
Shrewsbury
Welsh Marches line
Abbey Foregate
Wellington to
Craven Arms Railway
Upton Magna
Telford Coalbrookdale
 
Walcot
Severn Valley Railway
Admaston
Coalbrookdale
Nantwich and
Market Drayton Railway
Green Bank Halt
Wellington
Lightmoor Platform
Stafford to
Shrewsbury line
Lightmoor
Wellington to
Craven Arms Railway
New Hadley Halt
 Oakengates
Coalport branch line
Madeley
Telford Central
 Shifnal
 Cosford
 Albrighton
 Codsall
 Stafford Road
 Bilbrook
Wombourne
branch line
Oxley TRSMD
Rugby–Birmingham–
Stafford line
Dunstall Park
Victoria Basin
Wolverhampton
(High Level)
Wolverhampton
Low Level
 
Midland Railway
Rugby–Birmingham–
Stafford line
goods depot
 
 
Oxford, Worcester &
Wolverhampton and
Walsall Railway
Wolverhampton Line
 
 
Walsall to
Wolverhampton Line
 

Electrification from Stafford Road Junction to Oxley, is provided solely to enable electric stock to access Alstom's Oxley TRSMD, and is therefore constructed as a "trolley wire" suitable for low speeds only.[1]

Signalling was centred in the panel box at Madeley Junction until 2012,[2] but following the closure of the box there, the West Midlands Signalling Centre at Saltley has taken control of most of the route via its Oxley/Telford Workstation. Previously, Oxley signal box controlled the depot access and sidings until it closed on 27 November 2010 under the West Midlands Resignalling scheme. Towards Shrewsbury, Abbey Foregate signal box takes over for the last few miles beyond Wellington.

The line was also served by a service to Walsall which ran to Wellington via Wolverhampton but the service was cutback to Wolverhampton and then eventually withdrawn.

History
Main article: Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway

The line was opened by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway (S&BR) in 1849, which merged with the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1854. In GWR days, until the 1960s it formed part of an important main line route from London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside.[3]

Route

The towns and villages served by the route are listed below, East to West.

The map includes the former GWR Madeley Branch[4] which formed a connection from Madeley Junction to the Wellington to Craven Arms Railway at Lightmoor Junction.

Passenger services
Cosford loops with a measurement train waiting for a path

Monday-Saturday

Avanti West Coast, Transport for Wales and West Midlands Trains operate passenger trains on this line. Westbound, some trains go beyond Shrewsbury to Chester, Holyhead, Aberystwyth and Wrexham General while eastbound, services continue beyond Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street and/or Birmingham International.[5]

West Midlands Trains operate two service per hour on the line; the first is the traditional one that serves all stations between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury, the second new service, instituted in the May 2019 timetable, only calls at Codsall, Shifnal, Telford and Wellington, which provides a faster service on the line than the all stations stopping service.[6][7] The improved service was due to go live in the December 2018 timetable change, but the units could not be cascaded from other lines at that time.[8][9][10]

There was also two morning and return services a day to Walsall. These operated in the early morning from Monday to Friday only. They were operated as extensions of the Shrewsbury to Birmingham Line. This replaced the former Liverpool Lime Street service. However in December 2019, following problems with services and disruptions. The Walsall service was once again withdrawn. Replaced by a through Rugeley Trent Valley to Wolverhampton service.

Since December 2014, Virgin Trains (now Avanti West Coast) have run two daily services between Shrewsbury and London Euston.[11]

Sundays

As of the May 2019 timetable change, West Midlands Trains operates an hourly service on this line on Sundays. This was previously run as a two-hourly service by Arriva Trains Wales.[6] Avanti West Coast services only operate one of their direct trains in each direction on Sundays.

Freight
Telford Railfreight Depot

The Coalbrookdale line, which served Ironbridge Power Station to the south of Telford near Ironbridge, joined the Wolverhampton–Shrewsbury line at Madeley Junction, which is between Telford Central and Shifnal stations.[12] Coal trains ran by EWS up to 2012 and by Fastline up to 2010[13] used the route, supplying the power station. Between 2012 and 2015, the power station was converted to run on biomass which was supplied mostly via Liverpool Docks by GBRf trains until closure of the plant in November 2015.[14]

In 2008 the former Wellington to Stafford line was rebuilt as far as Donnington, for freight use. Telford International Railfreight Park is located at a 48 acres (0.19 km2) site just off the Hortonwood Roundabout near Donnington which opened in 2009. The reopened line is single track and runs for 2 miles 68 chains (4.6 km) from the junction with the Wolverhampton–Shrewsbury line at Wellington (0.25 miles (0.40 km) east of Wellington station). Currently the only rail business to and from the site is Ministry of Defence traffic[15] which runs down from Warrington so only uses a brief portion of the line between Shrewsbury and Wellington.[16]

See also

References
  1. Slater, J N, ed. (January 1972). "Trolley wire for sidings". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 118 no. 849. London: Transport Press. p. 42. ISSN 0033-8923.
  2. "Madeley Junction" The Signal Box discussion forum; Retrieved 3 August 2017
  3. Christiansen, Rex (1983). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, Volume 7 The West Midlands. David St John Thomas David & Charles. ISBN 0-946537-00-3.
  4. Ordnance Survey Map Shropshire XLIII.11, Revised: 1901, Published: 1902
  5. GB eNRT May 2019 Edition, Table 74 & 75
  6. O'Brien, Lisa (13 March 2019). "New timetable includes later rail services between Shropshire and West Midlands". The Shropshire Star. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  7. "'Major' rail changes in timetable overhaul". BBC News. 19 May 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  8. "Near £1 billion investment to bring new trains, extra seats and more frequent services | West Midlands Rail". www.westmidlandsrail.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  9. Webb, Jonathan, ed. (October 2017). "Abellio awarded West Midlands franchise". Today's Railways. No. 190. Sheffield: Platform 5. p. 8. ISSN 1475-9713.
  10. "Plans to improve Shropshire trains derailed | Shropshire Star". www.shropshirestar.com. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  11. BBC News, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29313965
  12. Bridge, Mike (2013). Railway Track Diagrams – Midland and North West. Bradford-on-Avon: Trackmaps. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-9549866-7-4.
  13. Buck, Martin (2010). Loco Review 2011. Swindon: Freightmaster Publishing. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-9558275-4-9.
  14. Shannon, Paul (20 January 2016). "Feeding the nations power stations". Rail Magazine. No. 792. p. 49.
  15. Shannon, Paul (December 2013). "On government business". Railways Illustrated. 11 (12): 84. ISSN 1479-2230.
  16. Rawlinson, Mark (November 2015). "Freighmaster 80". Freightmaster (80): 75. OCLC 904391334.
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