The railway line with a big future...

The Severn Valley Railway now comprises two companies, Severn Valley Railway (Holdings) PLC and The Severn Valley Railway Co Ltd. which have been formulated in order to consolidate and develop the 16-mile line into a major national and international tourist attraction. We now carry approximately 250,000 passengers annually.

With the Visitor Centre at Highley now open and the improvement works at Kidderminster completed the SVR is considering a number of further major projects for the future. Most importantly, work on bridges and other structures will need to take priority, but improvements to the visitor facilities at Bridgnorth are also being planned.

On the engineering side a ‘wheel drop’ has been installed in our workshops at Bridgnorth and plans are well advanced for a diesel depot at Kidderminster.

During 2009 much consideration was given to the development of the line during the next twenty years and for this purpose a strategy document was agreed for the first time. A copy of this document is publically available in the downloads section of this website.

Incidentally, and to complete the record and answer a frequently asked question, the railway land north of Bridgnorth has been long since sold, and there is now no possibility of Severn Valley trains reaching Ironbridge and Shrewsbury ever again.

The prospects for the SVR looks very positive, although great effort is still needed to maintain the present 16 miles of line in good order.

It all adds up to an exciting future for a railway which came about as a result of a meeting by a group of concerned locals in a Kidderminster public house!