Apologies if this has already been covered but I have been having A look at the demise of Wrexham and Shropshire and it seems that Arriva Trains Wales proposed a direct Aberystwyth to London service which W&S complained about. Having consulted Wikipedia it seems that both operators were owned by Arriva. The W&S MD said "We believe that this proposal if approved would push the date of profitability of WSMR by at least a year. As a result of this our owning group would be unable to sustain additional and continuing losses and the WSMR service would cease to exist." Why would Arriva group allow ATW to request a service to rival one it already owned and operated?