Always good fun to listen to a Crewe conductor mangling the station names on the Central Wales line
.
It would be wrong to categorise Chester as English-only or Welsh-resistant.
There are many people living and working there with strong Welsh connections, and of course a fair proportion of the passengers passing through are Welsh.
Chester is also where many Welsh folk spend their money, and there's a decent proportion of Welsh-speakers nearby in Clwyd, including Welsh-medium schools.
The other "English" Marches towns have similar strong Welsh connections.
I think the departure sheets at Chester are bilingual, but ATW produces English-only further east.
The English auto-announcer is the same at Chester as other ATW stations and on the trains.
The Welsh version is added at Welsh stations (and is exceptionally tedious, when you add request stops, no smoking and security messages).
Train displays are bilingual (including the revolting Cryw for Crewe on the Chester/Shrewsbury shuttles
).
I've never heard a manual on-board announcement in Welsh.
Virgin is similar to ATW - bilingual PIS, some Welsh crew, occasional chats in Welsh but all announcements in English.
There's this from the Welsh Government in the recent ICWC franchise consultation:
Improving the use of Welsh language in the delivery of rail services, supporting the Welsh Governments vision to see Welsh language thriving in Wales.
The consultation paper was itself produced in Welsh as well as English.