Wrexham Central railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wrexham Central
(Wrecsam Canolog)

Location

Place

Wrexham

Local authority

Wrexham

Grid reference

SJ335505

Operations

Managed by

Arriva Trains Wales

Platforms in use

Annual Rail Passenger Usage

2004/05 *

17,459

2005/06 *

16,211

History

Key dates

Opened 1998

National Rail - UK railway stations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Wrexham Central
(Wrecsam Canolog) from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.

UK Railways Portal

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 This station closed on 23 November 1998 and has been replaced by a large shopping centre.

Wrexham Central railway station in 1977

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.^{[citation needed]}