Articvle Daily Post 20th June written by Tom Bodden.
Work begins today on £44m improvements to rail links between Wrexham and Chester to deliver faster journey times from North to South Wales.
The project, due for completion in early 2015, will deliver a raft of enhancements, cutting journey times between Holyhead and Cardiff and allowing an extra train to run every two hours.
The scheme has come under fire from opposition AMs who protested that it had been scaled back and would fail to guarantee greater capacity between north east Wales and Manchester or Liverpool.
But local government minister Lesley Griffiths, who chairs the ministerial task force on modernising North Wales transport, will today mark the start of the work at Rossett.
She said: Modern and efficient transport links are vital for the economic prosperity of Wales.
In my role as chair of the ministerial task force on modernising transport in North Wales, I have met with stakeholders and transport providers from across the region, and I know they will welcome todays development as the work begins on major improvements to the link between North and South Wales.
The minister is also due to visit £2.6m work under way at Rhyl station to improve access and facilities. It is one of five stations across Wales currently benefiting from the £24.4m station improvement programme, she said.
Transport minister Edwina Hart said: Improving capacity and journey time on the north-south rail link as well as the ability to run an extra train every two hours between Holyhead and Cardiff is essential and is one of our key priorities.
People in north east Wales will benefit from the improved rail links to the rest of Wales once this scheme is completed.
Line speeds will improve between Shrewsbury and Gobowen and Rossett and Chester, with a re-doubling of 5.5 miles of line between Rossett and Saltney Junction.
Improved signalling and telecoms between Shrewsbury and Gobowen and additional signalling and telecoms between Wrexham and Chester, an upgrade of level crossings and alterations to structures and earthworks.
But North Wales Lib Dem AM Aled Roberts said: I still question whether these improvements will allow greater capacity between north east Wales and Manchester or Liverpool.
If Welsh Labour Ministers are allowing this to go ahead and no extra capacity will come from the improvements, it must be asked why the scheme was approved in the first place.
Conservative AM in North Wales Mark Isherwood said: This is yet another re-announcement of old money for a scaled-back project originally intended to improve rail links between Wrexham and Chester in 2008.
This work will not equip the line to meet future need because the Minister decided to reduce the redoubling of the line by two miles and ignored the potential impact on demand of the new Wrexham prison.
Plaid Cymru AM for Ynys Môn Rhun ap Iorwerth said: North Wales still has significant transport needs that have not yet been addressed fully, including but not limited to electrification of the North Wales coast line, improvement to the A55 corridor, and development of a railway station to serve the Deeside industrial park and enterprise zone.
Plaid Cymru encourages the government to bring these extra projects forward.