SLUG Response to Great Western Franchise Consultation
The Department for Transport has conducted a public consultation on the next Great Western rail franchise which is due to start in 2020, although the current franchise may continue until 2022 under a Direct Award agreement. Even though the Great Western franchise does not serve the Stourbridge line, many Stourbridge line passengers transfer onto Great Western services towards Oxford and London, Cheltenham and Bristol, and Hereford. For this reason, the Stourbridge Line User Group has produced a response to the consultation, concentrating on services that serve Worcester.
Among SLUG’s concerns are poor connections between West Midlands Railway services and Great Western Railway services at Worcester and our response includes proposals to improve connections. In the longer term, SLUG would also like to see direct services from the Stourbridge line to both London Paddington and to Bristol and our response details our reasons for proposing these through services.
The full SLUG response may be read by clicking on the button below.