Rail Lines To Be Redoubled Between Wrexham and Chester In £36m Investment

Wrexham Council has welcomed the news that the railway line between Wrexham and Chester is to be redoubled after 30 years of single track lines.

Between Saltney Junction and Wrexham General, seven miles of track will be redoubled, having been singled in the 1980s and the line speed will be increased to 90mph on some sections. The costs of the proposed redoubling and line speed works are estimated at £36.66m.

Redoubling of this line has been one of the council’s strategic rail objectives and has been a priority of Taith, the regional transport consortia for some time.

The scheme is being delivered under the Welsh Governments National Transport Plan, as part of the North-South Wales journey time enhancement project.

Cllr David Bithell, Lead Member for Transport and the Environment said: “The news of the investment from the Welsh Government is excellent and indicates the importance of this route.

WThis has been one of our strategic rail objectives and our elected members’ rail group has lobbied directly and through Taith for investment and improvements to this section of railway.

The scheme, funded by the Welsh Government, will also deliver further journey time benefits by raising the line speed between Gobowen and Shrewsbury to 90mph at a further cost of £9.8m.

The works are expected to be completed by early 2015.

Cllr Bithell added: “When these improvements are completed, we will have the potential to investigate new stations and for increasing the number of trains from hourly to every 30 minutes. With the consistent rise in passenger numbers at all our stations we will continue to press for increased services to more destinations.”