Wrexham & Shropshire: All Images

In September 2007, a third open access operator, Wrexham & Shropshire was granted access rights to run services between London Marylebone and Wrexham via Shropshire on an open-access basis. Wrexham & Shropshire was the operating name of the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway Company (WSMR) founded as a joint venture between two existing railway companies: Renaissance Trains and Laing Rail. Scheduled to start running in the spring of 2008, DB Regio, a subsidiary of the German state railway operator Deutsche Bahn, acquired Laing Rail in January 2008, and with it their interest in Wrexham & Shropshire. It began operating services on 28 April 2008. Under the terms of WSMR's Track Access Contract, trains were not permitted to call at Coventry, or to pick up (southbound) or set down (northbound) at Wolverhampton. The agreement did allow for WSMR to serve Birmingham International, but the company's timetable did not include this, services instead calling at Tame Bridge Parkway, a station with a substantial car park and good bus services, with the additional benefit of providing Walsall with a direct service to London. In September 2009, WSMR announced that from the beginning of 2010, it hoped to transfer operation of the Wrexham & Shropshire branded services to Chiltern Railways also part of DB Regio UK. As a result, from 13th December 2009 WSMR services also called unrestricted at Leamington Spa and Banbury. On Wednesday 26th January 2011 Wrexham & Shropshire announced that it would cease operations two days later on 28th January 2011, with Chairman Adrian Shooter stating that there was no prospect of the business ever being profitable.