I WAS pleased to see your article (23 March 2012) in the Malvern Gazette (though not in the Ledbury Reporter) about the welcome reintroduction of Adelantes trains. However the Ledbury Rail Users Group is worried that direct train services from London to Malvern and Ledbury may be under threat and both your article and the recent GW rail franchise consultation document have deepened our concern.

The comments made by Mark Hopwood, of First Great Western, in your article emphasise services to Worcestershire. There is no mention of services to Hereford, even though this is the terminal destination of the service.

In common with the franchise consultation, services to Worcester are emphasised while Malvern, Colwall, Ledbury and Hereford seem to be increasingly regarded as less important. This is particularly worrying given the recent withdrawal of direct services from London to Shrewsbury and acute pressure to reduce overcrowding on services entering Paddington.

The franchise consultation sets out the future service pattern as “IEP InterCity services London–Worcester, with some extensions to Great Malvern and Hereford”.

There is no definite commitment to the current five trains per day, nor to the more frequent service to Malvern.

Furthermore there is no mention of Ledbury or Colwall stations in the text or the table of stations, which appears to be a unique omission.


PATRICK GOODE
Secretary, Ledbury Rail Users Group