A NORTH Wales MS has ‘cautiously’ welcomed plans to improve the Wrexham to Bidston rail line following the announcement of a 5-step plan.

Transport for Wales’s (TfW) improvement plan is for rail services on the Wrexham to Bidston line in North Wales and the borders.

The 5-step plan includes improving the reliability of the new Class 230 trains through investment into the new depot at Birkenhead, improving customer service and information available during disruption and keeping all rail replacement to a minimum.

Sam Rowlands, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, says improvement plans for the Wrexham to Bidston rail line are long overdue.

Mr Rowlands, Shadow Minister for Local Government and a harsh critic of railway transport in North Wales said: “Obviously I welcome any plans to improve the rail services in my region but I still remain worried as Transport for Wales is wholly owned by the Welsh Government and they do not have a great past track record for delivering on what they promise.

“It is clear to me from emails I receive from residents that the quality and reliability of services on the Wrexham to Bidston line in North Wales and the borders falls short of what should be expected. For too long my region has been bearing the brunt of under investment and passengers in North Wales are the ones who suffer.

READ MORE:

“Looking to the future many people are trying to look at moving to using more public transport, supporting our environment, and cutting carbon emissions so it is vital things like rail services are improved as soon as possible.”

James Price, Transport for Wales CEO recently visited North Wales to see the new Class 230 trains that operate on the route.  He also had a tour of the train depot in Birkenhead, that TfW has recently invested in to help maintain the new trains.

Learning from customer feedback, TfW will also make buying tickets as easy as possible and is reviewing all ticketing options, as well as continually reviewing the rail timetable.

James Price, Transport for Wales CEO said: “We understand the frustrations of passengers using the Wrexham to Bidston line over the past few months. First, the line lost its train service due to a safety issue with engines on our trains and this resulted in replacement buses running.

“Following that, we introduced our refurbished Class 230 trains to the line and unfortunately, we’ve experienced teething problems and technical issues.

 “However, I’m happy to announce today that we now have a 5-step improvement plan in place that will focus on stabilising the reliability of our new trains and improving the service. I’ve visited the new depot in Birkenhead that will allow us to carry out maintenance on our Class 230s at a faster pace and have assured myself that we are doing everything possible to see an improvement in the service over the coming months.”