I was thinking that a direct link between the coastal towns and Wrexham avoiding Chester and going to the biggest town in NW is a new and a very good thing, not just another service to Chester.
That idea could make alot more sense than a frequent north Wales to Cardiff service in my opinion.
Is there a demand for it though? Is Wrexham a sizeable enough centre of employment that people from the coast would want to travel to? Surely Chester and Merseyside are a bigger draw?
Just because destination X is more important than destination Y, it doesn't automatically follow that destination Y is completely unimportant. It may be worth serving both, perhaps with shorter trains on the quieter route.
Difficult? Wrexham-Prestatyn (etc) is already hourly on a through train.
BUT; those through trains are difficult. Not from a passenger's perspective perhaps, but there are several issues which lead me to the opinion that through trains reversing at Chester should be withdrawn*. These issues include:
- Interworking with the ETCS-only Cambrian, meaning the Cambrian loses two 158s to the Chester-Bangor/Holyhead leg
- Interworking with the ETCS-only Cambrian means the Wrexham-Chester line is going to be way down the priority list for electrification; thus efforts to secure electrification of the north Wales coast line would be hindered by the frequent through-running of diesel trains from Wrexham, reversing at Chester
- The reversal at Chester cannot be helping journey times between the North Wales coast and Wrexham
A curve at Shotton to allow (for example) a Wrexham Central - Llandudno service would allow regular through trains between Wrexham and the north Wales coast to continue even if the Birmingham-Shrewsbury-Wrexham-Chester workings terminated at Chester rather than carrying on to the north Wales coast. It would increase the scope of any proposed north Wales electrification (which would have to include Wrexham Central-Bidston as well as the north Wales coast), but not by the same extent that including the entire marches line from Chester to Newport ** would.
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* With the exception of three express trains each way between Holyhead and Cardiff/Swansea.
** and perhaps the Cambrian too, because of the interworking, unless you kept a diesel service under the wires from Birmingham to Chester/Holyhead every two hours