The Best Guide for the Neston Area

Wirral Residents Urged to Participate in Rail Survey

As someone that has to, from time to time, travel to London and the West Midlands, I have had my share of rail journey experiences, most of which usually start at Hooton station despite the fact that I live in Neston.

Last week though I had a ticket booked from Liverpool Lime Street to Birmingham, so I thought I would try travelling to Liverpool from Neston. The journey out wasn't particularly bad or good, it took 43 minutes, the equivalent of driving to Hooton and then catching the train to Liverpool. However on the return journey I was surprised to find that between 18:56 and 20:56 there was no timetabled service heading to Neston from Bidston at all which, due to the time that I arrived back in Liverpool, meant I had to wait for an hour in Bidston. Quite why this is I have no idea, you would expect that with an hourly service provided through most of the day, a 19:56 service would have been included within the timetable

For me, this poor service highlights why the trains passing through Neston always look so empty and why Neston station itself doesn't appear to get much use, other than by the bored vandals who have been slowly destroying the shelters.

I think this is a shame as the line could be so useful to the residents of Heswall, Neston and Upton as it has connecting stations through to Liverpool and Chester. The Liverpool connection is not too bad, but with a 5 minute change for services to Liverpool from Bidston, it relies heavily on there being no problems further down the line, otherwise it involves a longer wait for the next train. The service back is even more reliant on a trouble- free service: if you miss the train departing from Bidston you have an hour's wait for the next one - unless you're unlucky enough to miss the 18:56 in which case you will have to wait for the 20:56 service!

Chester station is accessible if you are willing to change trains at Shotton. However there seem to be a lack of trains stopping at Shotton on the way to Chester which means the train arriving at Shotton from the direction of Bidston missed the only hourly train departing from Shotton on route to Chester.  This means you have a 40 minute wait at Shotton, which makes for a total journey of at least an hour despite the services from Shotton to Chester only taking 11 minutes and from Neston to Shotton taking 10 minutes. With a not- too-impossible 10 minute connection time, the journey could easily be 30 minutes from Neston to Chester which would compete with the 40+ minute bus journey and puts it close to the same journey time by car.

It is for this reason that I wish to get feedback from residents who live close to Neston, Heswall and Upton stations. Even if you haven't used the line before or use it infrequently. My aim is to collect as much information as possible from real passengers who could imagine themselves taking advantage of the connections offered, if they were improved.

I will send the collated information and any recommendation to local MPs, Merseyrail, Arriva and any other travel groups who can help to try and give passengers the connections and journey times that would make the Wrexham - Bidston (Borderlands) line of real use the residents that it is supposed to serve.

Complete the Survey Here

It will take just a few minutes and will help me to gauge your opinion of this apparently unloved line.
 
I know electrification, with the subsequent direct services to Liverpool, is a long term aspiration of Merseyrail and the Welsh Government, but I simply cannot see this happening any time soon with the costs for such a scheme currently not offering good value for money.

It seems to be a Catch 22 situation, more people need to use the line in order for the Dft and Network Rail to justify investing in electrification or even just giving Arriva Train Wales more units to operate more frequent half hourly services. So Arriva TW and Merseyrail need to make the best of what they have available to make the line truly useful for passengers from the Wirral and, of course, Wales.

Chris Howe
Neston Resident.

If you are on Facebook, you can also 'like' a page Chris has set up relating to this issue, here.

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Comments

lorraine b

At 10:01 on 23rd January 2012, lorraine b commented:

my son has to go to college in aintree every tuesday, he gets the 7am train in the morning and tries his best to get the 20:56 train back, but as you said if for some reason he is running late or there is a problem on the liverpool line, he misses this one, and then would have to wait til nearly 11pm at night, on these occasions we then have to travel to bidston to pick him up as i wont have him waiting for nearly two hours !! at that time of night. somethink does need to be done for this train line or it is going to put people off using it.

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Charlie - Little Neston

At 19:12 on 23rd January 2012, Charlie - Little Neston commented:

Well done Chris for arranging this! I've done the survey, and it's quite easy.
Neston station now has electronic signs, which should one day tell us when the next train is coming.
The last train from Liverpool Central leaves at 10.35, too early for theatres (and about the same time as the last bus).
The service to Hooton is fantastic, the last one after midnight, but buses to Neston disappear in the evenings and on Sundays.
It's not easy being environmentally careful in Neston, but we need to keep trying!

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Pat Hughes

At 20:58 on 23rd January 2012, Pat Hughes commented:

Well done indeed. I have sent the link to this page to Kim Hawkins and Shelley Hall the Arriva managers responsible for the Borberlands Line and Jamie Sant the Community Relations Officer for the line.

Pat Hughes
Parkgate Ward Town Councillor

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merrymac

At 23:22 on 23rd January 2012, merrymac commented:

Thank you Chris for having the community spirit to organise this. Once results have been collated , it would be interesting to see the summary. As far as the line's electrification, don't hold your breath in this present economic climate

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,

At 00:44 on 24th January 2012, , commented:

The government want to spend tens of billions putting the HS2 between London and Birmingham just to shave time off that journey, and this first phase won't be delivered until 2026 (correct me if I am wrong with the date - but lets just say a ridiculous amount of time & money in the future).

Here we have one example where the rail service needs upgrading to link two different systems and electrify the line so trains from Liverpool could run directly to Wrexham via the many stations in-between. I am sure there are hundreds of such upgrade projects around the UK which would increase our train network and be better use of money invested into the rail network.

Speaking as someone who works regularly in Liverpool the whole problem that Chris highlighted here is the reason I drive to Hooton, Spital or Green Lane every time I go to Liverpool, just so I don't get stuck in Bidston on the return journey.

If there was a direct service between Liverpool/Birkenhead and Neston/Wrexham then I would use that for sure without having to drive at all, and I have no doubt many other commuters would use the service.

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Robin H

At 10:29 on 24th January 2012, Robin H commented:

I tried to travel to London recently via Neston. The timings weren't too bad outward but the return was protracted due to a 1hr plus wait at Lime Street. That, plus the prospect of changing at Bidston with heavy baggage put us off so we cadged a lift. Remarkably, though, the Advance Booking price for the return Euston - Neston was only GBP16.50. I have also used it for a day out to Bettws y Coed via Shotton. It worked out very well. For us, the Bidston change, poor connections, infrequency and the lack of a post-theatre return are the off-puts. I also wondered whether running through to New Brighton would be attractive, as it used to, given the attraction of the new theatre.

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cheshire_guy

At 15:40 on 24th January 2012, cheshire_guy commented:

Thank you for your responses, I wasn't sure that many would want to fill out the survey, but so far there are a good range of answers.

I will endeavour to learn all I can about the line so I can make some recommendations based on the results. I will also ask Carrie if she wouldn't mind publishing the results in a few weeks when a good number of people have filled it out.

Please ask family and friends to fill out the survey the more people that fill it out the better.

I'm not a rail professional by any means but I do understand the sort of work that has to go into putting together rail strategies so will use that experience to goo effect I hope.

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cheshire_guy

At 16:07 on 24th January 2012, cheshire_guy commented:

For those of you on Facebook I have started a group so that I can post updates and to allow people to discus it further.

Simply search for "Wirral Borderlands Line action group" on facebook

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cheshire_guy

At 12:23 on 25th January 2012, cheshire_guy commented:

Good responses so far thank you for all your comments.

I see there is a lot of call for electrification, which I agree is brilliant idea. Unfortunately I can't see it being a realistic expectation at least not until the 2020s at the earliest. Network Rails quoted £208m for 3rd rail electrification which would offer very poor value for money for just 1 train an hour on a line that is under used.

Overhead electrification with duel voltage trains may reduce the cost but it will still be in the £100m range which I see as still being too expensive for Network Rail.

I know this may seem disappointing to a great many who would love to use this line if it direct Liverpool trains were offered, but there is a lot that can be done to improve the service using diesel stock. Altering the connection to Birkenhead North for instance would mean you have connecting trains to Liverpool every 5-10 minutes which decrease the likelihood of missing connections and would speed up the journey.

However before NR, Arriva or the DFt are willing to look at spending on more rolling stock to improve reliability and to extend the connection to Birkenhead North we need to show that people are be willing to use the service despite having to change trains. The current time of 43 minutes can be improved I'm sure and still competes with driving to Hooton to catch the train or the bus.

Any suggestions are welcome. Please make any suggestions on here for now and I will take them all into account and collate all comments.

Thanks Chris

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David C

At 13:46 on 25th January 2012, David C commented:

I tried to fill it in but it wouldn't record any of my votes!

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Carrie Spacey

At 15:19 on 25th January 2012, Carrie Spacey responded:

@Chris - no problem, keep me posted and I'll publish updates.

@David C - try refreshing the page using ctrl and the F5 key simultaneously. If that doesn't work, it may be to do with the browser/ISP you use. For example, if you are on AOL, that can be tricky when accessing online surveys etc. If that is the case, and you are keen to enter the survey, Neston Library offers free internet access, so you could pop in there to complete it.

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Jeni Y

At 17:20 on 25th January 2012, Jeni Y commented:

I am a Neston resident but rarely use Neston Station due to the uncertainty of connections and the long waits experienced at Bidston - not a staion to be marooned in the late evening. Hooton Station provides a very good service but unfortunately involves the use of your car or the infrequent bus service. Surely the answer is to electrify the line which would benefit so many people in this area, taking congestion off the roads which would improve the environment. Its communities like ours that need long awaited improvements NOW not a high speed train from London to Birmingham. The railway companies seem oblivious to a need to provide more services and more carriages to accommodate existing and future commuters which would mean more revenue (without outrageous fare increases). In the 1950's I could travel by train from Parkgate Station to Brighton, I think there was only one change (I was quite young so cannot fully remember) but nowadays have things improved? Mr Beeching has a lot to answer for especially when the British roads are gridlocked in the very near future!

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tricia mary

At 19:44 on 25th January 2012, tricia mary commented:

We use the train to Wrexham ( and other North Wales resorts by changing at Shotton ) quite often. Just going to Wrexham is not too dear but costs can be prohibitive when going to Rhyl or some where with grandchildren. I hope we never loose this facility and have to rely totally on the bus service. The other moan is that pensioners getting on to travel to Wrexham from the Mersyside of Wirral, travel free as their passes cover train journeys and not just buses

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MD

At 15:24 on 26th January 2012, MD commented:

The train service from Neston to Liverpool and back is a crying shame.
Forget getting back via Bidston from Liverpool any time after 4pm. It is pretty hopeless. and even worse on the nights of Derby Games with "technical problems".

You are OK if you go to Liverpool jshopping and can make the 4pm, but after that the trains are well over an hour apart.

What we need is a proper train service that serves the local community, including Heswall and surrounding area, who need to connect with Liverpool and Chester.

What opportunities it would create particularly for the job seekers

You don't always know if the Wrexham train is turning up as there are no electronic information signs. Often I have telephoned Arriva to be tolds it is cancelled.

I have to say it, what transport we have is below that of a Banana Republic.

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cheshire_guy

At 12:05 on 27th January 2012, cheshire_guy commented:

I received a response to my complaint from Arriva Trains Wales, it reads as follows.

"Thank you for your recent email regarding our services on the Wrexham/Bidston line.
I was very sorry to hear of your dissapointment with the frequency of services and connection times and I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience or frustration that you endured when travelling with us recently.
At present the services that we run on this route meet the requirements set out in our franchise agreement, and the public service requirement set out by Welsh Government.
Please be assured however that your comments have been noted and a copy of your email has been passed to our Train Planning Team, for their reference and consideration.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding the problems that you experienced. Customer feedback of any nature is always welcome as it helps us to identify areas of the business that are working well, or areas that require our attention. We are grateful to receive your comments.
Once again, please accept my apologies for the circumstances that have prompted you to contact us, and thank you once again for your comments and suggestions.


Tel 0845 6061 660
E-mail Customer.Relations@arrivatrainswales.co.uk"

So basically they have passed the buck and do not intend to improve the services at this point. I hadn't set up the survey when I first e-mailed them however I will forward on the comments from here, facebook and the 45 or so comments on the survey so far in a few weeks when I have enough responses.

I am still awaiting replies from Merseyrail and those behind the Borderlands web site regarding my complaint.

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