Shrewsbury to Chester Line

Shrewsbury to Chester Line
Overview
Type	Heavy Rail
System	National Rail
Locale	Shropshire Cheshire West Midlands (region) Wrexham county borough Shrewsbury and Atcham North West England
Termini	Shrewsbury Chester
Stations	Gobowen, Chirk, Ruabon and Wrexham General
Operation
Opened	1846
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Arriva Trains Wales, Virgin Trains
Character	South to North
Rolling stock	Class 150 Sprinter, Class 153 Super Sprinter, Class 158 Express Sprinter, Class 175 Coradia, Class 221 Super Voyager
Technical
Line length	84.38 miles (135.80 km)
No. of tracks	Double track between Shrewsbury and Wrexham, Single track between Wrexham and Chester.
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (Standard gauge)
Operating speed	50mph, 70mph, (Formally 90mph).

Shrewsbury-Chester Line

Legend Chester River Dee North Wales Coast Line Saltney Junction Saltney Closed 1960 Balderton Closed 1952 Pulford Closed 1855 England/Wales border Rossett Closed 1968 Gresford Closed 1962 Rhosrobin Halt Closed 1947 Borderlands Line towards Bidston Wrexham General Borderlands Line towards Wrexham Central Croes Newydd to Brymbo/Minera Closed 1982 Rhos Jc (Rhos Branch) Closed 1963 Johnstown and Hafod Closed 1960 Wynnville Halt Closed 1960 Gardden Lodge Jc (Ponciau Branch) Closed 1964 Ruabon (Llangollen Jc) Ruabon-Barmouth Line Closed 1965 Rhosymedre Halt Closed 1959 Cefn Closed 1960 Whitehurst Halt Closed 1960 Chirk England/Wales border Trehowell Halt Closed 1951 Weston Rhyn Closed 1960 Gobowen towards Oswestry and Welshpool Closed passengers 1966 Whittington Low Level Closed 1960 Rednal and West Felton Closed 1960 Haughton Halt Closed 1960 Stanwardine Halt Closed 1960 Baschurch Closed 1960 Oldwoods Halt Closed 1960 Leaton Closed 1960 Welsh Marches Line towards Crewe Shrewsbury River Severn Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line Cambrian Line Welsh Marches Line towards Hereford

The Shrewsbury to Chester Line, also known as the Severn–Dee Line (after the rivers on which Shrewsbury and Chester stand), was built in 1846 as the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway. The engineer for the line was a Mr Robertson while the contractor was Thomas Brassey in partnership with William Mackenzie and Robert Stephenson.

History

It became part of the Great Western Railway's main line from London Paddington to Birkenhead Woodside until nationalisation when it was part of the Western Region until later transferred to the London Midland Region of British Rail. It runs from Shrewsbury in England to Chester, also in England. Of the remaining intermediate stations, Gobowen is in England but the rest are in Wales. A campaign for the re-opening of Baschurch Station is now under way.

The towns served by the lines are listed below.

• Chester (7 platforms and station cafe/ticket office/shops)
• Wrexham (6 platforms and station cafe/ticket office)
• Ruabon (2 platforms)
• Chirk (2 platforms)
• Gobowen (for Oswestry) (2 platforms and ticket office)
• Shrewsbury (5 platforms and station cafe/ticket office/shop/British Transport Police presence)

Services

Passenger trains along the line are operated by Arriva Trains Wales and Virgin Trains.

At Chester, there are connections towards Crewe and Holyhead (on the North Wales Coast Line), towards Manchester Piccadilly via Warrington Bank Quay (on the Chester to Manchester Line), towards Manchester Piccadilly via Northwich (on the Mid-Cheshire Line) and towards Liverpool Lime Street (on Merseyrail's Wirral Line).

At Wrexham, there are connections towards Liverpool (change at Bidston) via The Borderlands line and London via the west coast mainline.

At Shrewsbury, connections are provided towards Carmarthen via Hereford and Cardiff Central and Manchester via Crewe (via the Welsh Marches Line), towards Aberystwyth and Pwllheli (on the Cambrian Line), towards Swansea (via the Heart of Wales Line) and towards Birmingham New Street or London Marylebone (via the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line).

Growth in services

In December 2005, Arriva Trains Wales introduced a new timetable to the line, providing an hourly service between Shrewsbury and Chester, Monday to Saturday, from early morning until around midnight (involving eight additional trains serving Gobowen). This improved service includes a through train every two hours between Holyhead and Cardiff throughout most of the day. The line has seen passenger numbers double during 2003–2004 and increase by 30% since 1999.

On 28 April 2008, Wrexham & Shropshire began providing services along the section of line between Wrexham General and Shrewsbury, continuing via the Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line to London Marylebone. The service ceased on 28 January 2011.

Virgin Trains

• Wrexham to and from London Euston

Chester to Shrewsbury Rail Partnership

The Chester to Shrewsbury Rail Partnership aims to promote travel along the line and to seek improvements to services and facilities. It is a member of the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP). In 2006, the Chester to Shrewsbury Rail Partnership commissioned the Scott Wilson Report to assess the feasibility of certain enhancements to the service. These include the re-opening of stations at Rossett and Johnstown & Hafod and the opening of a new station at Lache.

Incidents

• On 24 May 1847, five passengers were killed and many were injured in the Dee Bridge Disaster. A Chester to Ruabon train fell 11 m (36 ft) into the River Dee, following the collapse of the Dee Railway bridge on the outskirts of Chester. A girder, which had cracked in the middle, gave way as the train crossed. The engine and tender managed to reach the other side of the bridge but the carriages crashed into the river. The bridge was engineered by Robert Stephenson despite warnings from civil engineer, William Fairbairn. He had warned Stephenson about the problems using cast iron girders only a few months before construction of the bridge at a meeting at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London, but his advice was ignored. A Royal Commission following this accident led to a re-evaluation of the use of cast-iron in railway bridges. Many new bridges had to be reinforced or rebuilt.

• On 7 June 1865, a rail crash at Rednal killed 13 people when a heavy 28 carriage excursion train derailed near Rednal station, having failed to notice warnings of track maintenance ahead.

• On 13 February 1961, a passenger train travelling from Shrewsbury to Chester collided with a freight train which was partially shunted into a siding in Baschurch. Three people died in the accident Television footage of the wreckage is available from the BBC.

• On 11 January 1965, the Coton Hill rail crash took place at Coton Hill, near Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England. It happened when a heavily loaded freight train ran out of control on the 1 in 100 Hencote incline and was derailed on a set of trap points, eventually demolishing Coton Hill South signal box killing the signalman on duty and seriously injuring the driver of the train.

• On 19 July 2008, the 16:46 Cardiff–Wrexham service struck a tractor and trailer at the Weston Rhyn level crossing between Gobowen and Chirk just before 17:00. The tractor driver suffered severe head injuries in the incident and the train suffered severe front end damage, although it stayed on the rails.

External links

• Chester to Shrewsbury Rail Partnership