WILMSLOW is on track for a direct hourly train service to London.

Virgin Rail plan to triple the number of trains to and from the capital to 30 a day and to slash the journey time to one hour 45 minutes.

Currently there are only five direct trains running between Wilmslow and London on weekdays with just three on the return leg. Journey times range from two hours and ten minutes to three hours and four minutes.

A spokesman for Virgin Rail said if the new timetable is accepted there will be "Broadly speaking one an hour".

Although the increased services apply to weekday travel, the spokesman said weekend services would also improve.

The move is part of a wider strategy by the Department for Transport (DfT) to modernise the west coast main line, increase the frequency of intercity services and reduce journey times.

The improved service is dependent on approval for an increase in the number of trains in the new timetable, which is updated annually, and on Network Rail completing essential work on the tracks and the signalling systems to support faster, high frequency trains.

A spokesman for Network Rail said: "We’ve virtually completed the entire project in Litchfield, Staffordshire - doubling the number of tracks from two to four.

"Engineering work at Rugby is primarily the work that needs to be completed by December to enable Virgin Rail to operate a high frequency time table. We’re aiming to be done by December."

The DfT recently completed its consultation on the new draft timetables for Monday to Friday services.

The comments will be used to determine the final timetable, which will be agreed by the Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR) before it is released on December 7, 2008.

MP George Osborne welcomed the news and said he had been campaigning for an improved service.

He said he had been in conversation with operators Virgin Rail and Network Rail ever since fears were raised that Wilmslow would lose out in a shake-up of the region’s rail system.

Mr Osborne said: "I am delighted. It’s fantastic news and a vindication of a campaign we have been fighting with local people in Wilmslow to get a better train service.

"This will make sure Wilmslow is plugged into the national economy and after the gloomy news about job losses, it is just the shot in the arm we need."