Rail Services Between North Wales & Manchester Airport to Increase From Today

Rail services between North Wales and Manchester Airport are to increase from today – providing an additional 40 services between the two locations for passengers.

On Friday, news finally came through to Arriva Trains Wales that the Office for Road and Rail – which had been scrutinising their application to increase rail services – had given their approval for new services to be run.

Arriva Trains Wales will now run six new services to and from the airport from Chester on weekdays and 10 return services on Saturdays.

The news has been welcomed by Wrexham MP Ian Lucas who has been part of the long-running campaign for better rail links between Wrexham and Manchester Airport.

He has met with Arriva Trains – who will be providing the services – with Manchester Airport staff, with fellow MPs – and even raised the issue directly with the Prime Minister in the Commons.

Mr Lucas said: “I am absolutely delighted that this campaign has paid off. It has been long-running and hard-fought, but we have got there – and what a result.

“The approval from the ORR means that Arriva can put their plans into action immediately. That will mean new services linking North Wales directly into Manchester Airport are now up and running – and that is good news for businesses and holidaymakers alike.

“It had looked at times as though these services would not get the go-ahead. That is one of the reasons why I was so persistent in making the case for them – to regulators, to transport bosses, and even to the Prime Minister.

“That campaign has paid off and the new train service is underway. This is excellent news.”

Across North Wales the number of services to and from Manchester Airport will increase from 17 to 57.

Manchester Airport spokesman added: “There are more than 22 million people within Manchester Airport’s two hour catchment area, including a significant number from North Wales.

“We are supportive of any move to improve connectivity to the UK’s third biggest airport and the addition of 40 direct services a week will deliver a significant boost to both leisure and business travellers.

“This will mean more people than ever before from North Wales will be able to access our network of flights to more than 210 destinations.”