Wrexham Central railway station

Infobox UK station
name=Wrexham Central
""'(Wrecsam Canolog)"
locale=Wrexham


manager=Arriva Trains Wales
borough=Wrexham
lowusage0405=17,459
lowusage0506=16,211
lowusage0607=20,456
gridref=
platforms=1
start= 1998

Wrexham Central railway station is one of two railway stations serving the central area of Wrexham in Wales. The platform can accommodate a three car DMU, but has room for platform extension. It is the southern terminus of the Borderlands Line, also known as the Wrexham-Bidston line, which links north-east Wales to Merseyside.

The current station was constructed in 1998 and replaced the first Wrexham Central station, opened on 1 November 1887, which was located 400 yards to the east. This station closed on 23 November 1998 and has been replaced by a large shopping centre.

The original Wrexham Central was a large station, with a marshalling yard and goods depot accompanying it, and was a through line to Ellesmere. The Wrexham to Ellesmere line was a victim of the Beeching cuts in the 1960s, and Wrexham Central was almost closed too, but as Wrexham was undergoing population growth, it was decided to retain it as a station close to the town centre. It was reduced to a single track station with a small concrete shelter. The goods depot and marshalling yard were reduced to a large car park and railway club. However, in 1998, a large shopping centre was to be built on the entire area, and the station was pushed back by 50 metres. The local rail users group tried to prevent this, but failed. They did however, get a large waiting building compared to the prefabricated open concrete shelter it replaced. The line today sees Class 153 Sprinters and Class 150 Sprinters. The line used to see Pacer 142 units, but these were stopped due to their ride quality on jointed track. One of the conditions the Rail Users group gave on the relocation was that if needed, space be left for future doubling of the track and a second platform. This was complied with.

There are possibilities that Wrexham Central may become electrified, as part of electrification of the entire Borderlands line. Network Rail mentioned this as a possible future development for the route in it's 2007 Business Plan for the area [http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/BusinessPlan2007/PDF/Route%2022%20North%20Wales%20and%20Borders.pdf] , but further progress is dependent on a favourable business case being put forward and funding secured [http://www.penmorfa.com/Wrexham/electrify.html] , [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2007-03-02b.124300.h] .

ervices

The station has an hourly service to Shotton and Bidston on Monday to Saturday daytimes, dropping to two-hourly in the evenings. Connections for Birkenhead and Liverpool are available at Bidston.

There is a limited service (five trains in total) on Sundays.

External links

* [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/w/wrexham_central/index.shtml the original Wrexham Central at Subterranea Britannica]

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