Holyhead to Liverpool Routeing

[danm14]

Is Holyhead to Liverpool via the Borderlands Line between Shotton and Bidston a valid route? It doesn't appear to be mapped, but it's the shortest (time) route on Sundays when taking the 14:50 ferry from Dublin.

It would appear to be either shorter or similar in distance to the route via Chester and the Wirral Line, but I'm only basing this on its appearance on a map as I can't find the actual lengths - is it indeed the shortest route or within the three mile tolerance?

Are there any other valid routes from Holyhead to Liverpool apart from this and via Chester and the Wirral Line before the direct trains via Runcorn start later in the year?

 

[button_boxer]

It looks to be shorter to me - Railmiles suggests 100 miles as the shortest route by rail from Holyhead to James Street going via Chester and the Wirral, but 76 1/2 miles Holyhead to Shotton plus 18 3/4 miles Shotton to James Street via Bidston, totalling 95 1/4 miles. I guess it isn't picking that up as the shortest route by rail because it has Shotton and Shotton High Level listed as two separate stations.

 

[M28361M]

The NRE journey planner will offer routes via Bidston without splitting tickets so I think you are correct and it is valid.

Bear in mind that although the official connection time at Shotton is five minutes, it can be a lengthy walk between the low and high level platforms and 5 minutes might be a little optimistic. Also on Sundays the Wrexham-Bidston service is infrequent so if there is any risk of missing your connection it would be best to stay on to Chester to avoid a long wait.

 

[Romilly]

The routeing guide requires us to look at Llandudno Junction to Liverpool journeys to find permitted routes for a Holyhead-Liverpool "any permitted route" ticket. The guide limits those routes to ones that can be traced on Map CH. The only mapped route is Holyhead-Chester-Liverpool. However, some retailers (e.g. C2C) will sell the Holyhead-Liverpool ticket with an itinerary for a journey via Bidston.

I tried to check shortest routes on railmiles but that is giving some odd answers (e.g. that the shortest route from Lime Street to Bidston is via Runcorn)

 

[JB_B]

Bidston is the shortest route.

 

[danm14]

The NRE journey planner will offer routes via Bidston without splitting tickets so I think you are correct and it is valid.

Bear in mind that although the official connection time at Shotton is five minutes, it can be a lengthy walk between the low and high level platforms and 5 minutes might be a little optimistic. Also on Sundays the Wrexham-Bidston service is infrequent so if there is any risk of missing your connection it would be best to stay on to Chester to avoid a long wait.

Thankfully I'll have roughly 25 minutes to transfer between platforms, and in the event the Holyhead-Shotton or Wrexham-Bidston train(s) are delayed I can just stay on the train from Holyhead and change at Chester, so there's no risk.