Chester station upgrade: Chester is in Wales & West, Apparently

[LNW-GW Joint]

Just seen this item on the NR site, about the completion of Chester's station upgrade with the footbridge upgrade.
It's filed under Wales and West news, not North West and Midlands as you would expect.
The NR spokesman was Mark Longland, Wales Route Director.
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.c...ge-is-re-opened-after-refurbishment-1d9f.aspx

Chester station footbridge is re-opened after refurbishment

A refurbished historic footbridge at Chester railway station is to be officially re-opened by Network Rail on Thursday, 6 June 2013.

The refurbishment is the final redevelopment project to be delivered as part of a multi-million pound Chester Renaissance programme for the station and the surrounding area over the past several years.

Network Rail and train operator Arriva Trains Wales have invested around £8.5m at Chester station over the last five years, including the £900,000 spent recently on refurbishing the footbridge.

The funding has come from the Department for Transport. Other work has included a new roof, improved customer facilities and better access for disabled and elderly people.

Mark Langman, Network Rail route managing director, said: “This project marks the completion of a significant investment to enhance the facilities at Chester station and to improve the station and surrounding environment for passengers - an important gateway and shop window for the historic city.

It's the first time I've seen Wales route claim Chester from LNW.

 

[WatcherZero]

Page 15

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse...te utilisation strategies/wales/wales rus.pdf

Doesnt appear on the Wales Route Plan map but mentioned a lot in terms of Welsh infrastructure improvement schemes and as a diversionary route for Welsh services.

 

[ex-railwayman]

Well, their football ground is in Wales, the rest of Chester is in England, the border cuts through to the west of the City.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

 

[Welshman]

And its in Wales as far as holders of the Welsh Concessionary Bus Pass are concerned - provided you don't want to alight or board at any stop between the boundary and the city centre.

 

[northwichcat]

The management of Chester station comes under the Wales and West franchise which is operated by Arriva Trains Wales.

If the First North Western franchise area had remained the same as it was then I'm sure the refurbishment of Chester station would have been classed as North West news.

 

[swt_passenger]

NR's press office areas have not matched up with either NR route boundaries, or TOC areas of responsibility, for a couple of years.

As an example everything published about Reading seems to come under London and SE, rather than 'West', so I think this is a bit of a non-story...

 

[merlodlliw]

I have had this argument for years,just because Chester station is managed by Welsh Government(ATW) those who don't know in Cardiff, think Chester is in Wales & the West Country.

 

[Gareth Marston]

NR's press office areas have not matched up with either NR route boundaries, or TOC areas of responsibility, for a couple of years.

As an example everything published about Reading seems to come under London and SE, rather than 'West', so I think this is a bit of a non-story...

agree

 

[Eagle]

The management of Chester station comes under the Wales and West franchise which is operated by Arriva Trains Wales.

It's the Wales and Borders franchise; the Wales and West franchise hasn't existed since 2001.

 

[John07]

And its in Wales as far as holders of the Welsh Concessionary Bus Pass are concerned - provided you don't want to alight or board at any stop between the boundary and the city centre.

Carlisle and Berwick-upon-Tweed are in Scotland as far as bus concessions are concerned.

 

[causton]

Carlisle and Berwick-upon-Tweed are in Scotland as far as bus concessions are concerned.

From a Scottish point of view, or an English? I'm presuming the former, and English passes can be used as well. So bus operators there must be raking in the money

 

[transmanche]

Carlisle and Berwick-upon-Tweed are in Scotland as far as bus concessions are concerned.

By 'bus concessions', do you mean 'bus concessions when using the Scottish National Entitlement Card'?

You can (of course) use ENCTS cards in Berwick. And on journeys from Berwick to/from Scotland on routes 18, 19, 34, 60, 67, 235, 236, 253 and 260 - provided the journey starts or finishes in England.

 

[TDK]

I don't suppose it is anything to do that the station is managed by ATW - the wales and borders francise by any chance

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I don't suppose it is anything to do that the station is managed by ATW - the wales and borders francise by any chance

The bit I don't understand is that the Chester area is signalled by the PSB which runs up to Hooton/Wrexham/Rockliffe Hall/Mickle Trafford/Beeston, and has always been in LNW route.
It looks like this has now been transferred to Wales route and in due course will be part of the Cardiff ROC rather than Manchester.
Otherwise, Wales route is split with the North Wales main line detached from the rest.
If I'm wrong someone please correct me.

There is similar uncertainty about the Worcester area.
This is currently Western route, but I've seen reference to it becoming part of Saltley area (LNW) when it is resignalled (and electrified to Bromsgrove).

I'm just interested in the NR strategy.

 

[John07]

From a Scottish point of view, or an English? I'm presuming the former, and English passes can be used as well. So bus operators there must be raking in the money

I know both stations are included in the Freedom of Scotland rail pass as well as the concessionary Scottish bus pass.

I don't know what the local English bus passes cover, I assume that it will be the Council or County area. The Scottish bus pass is nationwide.

 

[edwin_m]

There's a map of the routes on the NR website. The scale is a bit small but there's a bulge eastwards on the Wales route in the general direction of Crewe which clearly doesn't follow the border of Wales itself. So I'd say the Chester power box area is all within the Wales route.

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/structure-and-governance/our-routes/

I agree with LNW-GW. NR administrative boundaries generally (always?) follow power box control boundaries as it's not sensible to have the signallers reporting to two bosses and generally control area boundaries are placed where they cause the least operational inconvenience. Most of the trains that enter Chester from the Wrexham line depart on the Holyhead line and vice versa, and these can stay within the same power box area and Route. The trains entering Chester from the east and north have to cross a boundary, but you have to put the boundary somewhere and most of these trains simply turn back at Chester so have less operational complication. It would make no sense to split the control area at the Welsh border as Saltney Junction is a few metres away.

The corresponding situation for Scotland may be complicated by differences in the legal system which suggest it is a good idea to put the administrative split at the actual border. The WCML BR Regional boundary was indeed at the border. However this is not a good place for an operational split as Gretna Junction is a few metres on the Scottish side, so Carlisle power box control area extends into Scotland for several miles on both the WCML and the GSW routes. My Quail map (which may be out of date) suggests the NR Route split is at the power box boundary so that the NW Route includes some track in Scotland, though this isn't evident on the NR map. On the ECML I believe the control area, former region and current Route boundaries coincide with the actual border.