I’ve never had an issue with this long section in 6 years driving the route. Money should be spent either at Beeston/Crewe, or Gobowen/Shrewsbury. This would make journey times better but these aren’t in wales so it won’t even be discussed. Chester still needs bulldozing and rebuilt from scratch as it’s nearly as pathetic as Shrewsbury. The work that NEEDS to be done to improve it would hit the billions I think, 2.9m ain’t doing jack hit. But we’ll just continue to throw plasters at the issues and make do.
There are a couple of pinch points in the timetable, such as 1055-1134 when three Holyhead bound trains pass Gaerwen, and 2117-2132 where there are two. Any disruption prior to this will lead to delays at Gaerwen. However, it’s rare that it results in a delay of more than 10 minutes, usually nearer 5. Whenever there is more serious disruption (e.g. an Avanti has been delayed by an hour from Euston, as happened recently), the backlog can be much longer though. I’m pretty sure all these trains are worked by Holyhead TfW and Avanti traincrew working home.
However, I’m not sure any of this justifies making Tŷ Croes a block post!
(The worst I’ve seen recently was a train in section, one stopped at Gaerwen’s section signal, one at the home signal and one at Llanfairpwll. I think the train in the section was a stopper, which obviously exacerbates the issue.)
Edit: the times I’ve given above are at Llanfairpwll, not Gaerwen, but the point stands.
