General information | |||||
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Location | Shotton, Flintshire Wales | ||||
Coordinates | 53°12′47″N3°02′17″W / 53.213°N 3.038°W | ||||
Grid reference | SJ307689 | ||||
Managed by | Transport for Wales | ||||
Platforms | 4 | ||||
Other information | |||||
Station code | SHT | ||||
Classification | DfT category E | ||||
Key dates | |||||
1 October 1891 | High level station opened as Connah's Quay & Shotton [1] | ||||
15 September 1952 | High Level and Low Level suffixes added [1] | ||||
14 February 1966 | Shotton Low Level closed [1] | ||||
21 August 1972 | Low level station reopened as part of Shotton [1] | ||||
26 September 1999 | High Level suffix restored [1] | ||||
Passengers | |||||
2019/20 | 200,402 | ||||
2020/21 | 44,368 | ||||
Interchange | 3,586 | ||||
2021/22 | 141,210 | ||||
Interchange | 12,246 | ||||
2022/23 | 177,044 | ||||
Interchange | 12,408 | ||||
2023/24 | 208,574 | ||||
Interchange | 15,725 | ||||
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Shotton railway station serves the towns of Shotton and Connah's Quay,Flintshire,Wales. It is situated where the Borderlands Line crosses the North Wales Coast Line. All passenger services are operated by Transport for Wales,which manages the station.
Shotton is split into two sections:Shotton High Level is above street level and serves the Borderlands Line;Shotton Low Level serves the North Wales Coast Line. Each level has two side platforms and both are double tracked. The tracks of the high and low levels cross each other at right angles.
There is a ticket office on the high level Bidston-bound platform. The station is staffed on weekdays and Saturday mornings only.
The town gained its first railway as early as 1848 with the opening of the Chester and Holyhead Railway,but the railway company did not provide a station to serve it. The town had to wait until 1891 for its first station,when one was built by the Wrexham,Mold and Connah's Quay Railway as the northern end of their Hawarden Loop line from Buckley. This station opened on 1 October 1891 as Connah's Quay &Shotton and became Shotton High Level on 15 September 1952. [1] It connected there to the Manchester,Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's line from Chester Northgate via Hawarden Bridge. The link to Bidston was added by the North Wales and Liverpool Railway in 1896,whilst the LNWR built two wooden platforms on the main line to Holyhead in 1907 [2] to give the town access to trains along the coast to Crewe,Rhyl,Llandudno and Holyhead and to allow interchange with the Wrexham line.
The Beeching cuts of the 1960s saw the low level platforms closed on 14 February 1966 [1] and services to Chester Northgate withdrawn on 9 September 1968, [3] leaving only the Wrexham - Bidston line to serve the high-level platforms. Beeching's original report proposed the closure of both the stations. [4] The loss of the link to Chester proved unpopular however and BR eventually agreed to restore it by re-opening the low level platforms,partly funded by the Hawarden Rural District Council which had lobbied for re-opening. Trains began calling again on 21 August 1972 [1] after new platforms had been built (the slow lines that served the original platforms having been removed in the late sixties as an economy measure). There was an opening ceremony on 17 August.[ citation needed ]
Between 2009 and 2010,both sets of platforms were refurbished as part of a £1.5 million modernisation scheme. This work (which commenced in March 2009) included platform resurfacing,the installation of new waiting shelters &ticket vending machines,improved signage and a new ticket office. [5] The scheme was completed in early November 2010 with the official opening of the new ticket office by former Alyn &Deeside MP Lord Jones. [6]
The ticket office is located on the northbound high level platform and is staffed on weekday mornings (07:30 - 10:30) and on Saturdays (08:45 - 13:45) as noted. At other times,intending passenger should purchase their tickets from the ticket machine or prior to travel (pre-paid tickets can also be collected from the machine). Train running information on all platforms are provided by CIS screens,timetable poster boards and automatic announcements;there is also a customer help point on the high level platform 4 and a payphone on platform 3. No wheelchair access is available to platforms 1,3 or 4 - the former is only accessible via footbridge,whilst the latter two both have steep ramps unsuitable for wheelchairs and mobility-impaired users. Platform 2 can be reached via a shallow ramp from the small car park at the end of Alexandra Street. [7]
The high level of the station is on the Borderlands Line and consists of two platforms:3 &4. Services operate every 45 minutes in each direction (Monday-Saturday daytime) between Wrexham Central and Bidston (where passengers can change for Liverpool). The frequency drops to two-hourly in the evenings and is every 90 minutes on Sundays. [8] To the north of the station on the Borderlands line is Hawarden Bridge over the River Dee.
Trains operate approximately every hour on the North Wales Coast Line. Services travel between Llandudno and Manchester Piccadilly/Manchester Airport via Chester and Warrington Bank Quay. A number of morning &evening services between Holyhead and either Shrewsbury/Birmingham New Street or Crewe also stop here. There is also a direct Transport for Wales service from Birmingham International (Airport) to Holyhead,calling at Birmingham New Street,Wolverhampton,Shrewsbury,Wrexham,Chester and the North Wales coast stations including Shotton. [9]
Sunday services are infrequent during the morning and early afternoon,but between 1600 and 20:00 the Crewe - Holyhead service calls hourly in each direction.
Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
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Hawarden | Transport for Wales Borderlands Line | Hawarden Bridge or Neston | ||
Chester | Transport for Wales North Wales Coast Line | Flint |
In March 2015 Network Rail published the draft version of their Welsh Route Study. It contained a proposal to build a new interchange station that would replace the existing High and Low Level stations,allowing for greater connectivity between the North Wales Coast Main Line and the Borderlands Line. The document recommended a transport planning study to establish the cost,feasibility and benefits of the proposed scheme. [10]
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Similar two-level layouts can be found at:
and used to be found further south on the Borderlands Line at Hope Exchange railway station.
The North Wales Main Line, also known as the North Wales Coast Line, is a major railway line in the north of Wales and Cheshire, England, running from Crewe on the West Coast Main Line to Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey. The line has 19 stations, with all except two, Chester and Crewe, being in Wales.
The Buckley Railway was opened from Buckley to a connection with the Chester to Holyhead main line on 7 June 1862, to convey coal and finished brickworks products from the Buckley area. Numerous short tramroads had existed in the area from the 1700s. The line was steeply graded and sharply curved.
The North Wales and Liverpool Railway (NWLR), was the name given to the joint committee formed to construct a railway between Bidston, on the Wirral Railway and Hawarden on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's (MSLR) Chester & Connah's Quay Railway from Chester to its link with the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway (WMCQR): the committee was between the two latter Railways. When the WMCQR went into receivership in 1897 the MSLR bought the combined WMCQR and the Bidston extension. The committee was dissolved in 1904.
Deeside is the name given to a predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages in Flintshire and Cheshire on the Wales–England border lying near the canalised stretch of the River Dee that flows from neighbouring Chester into the Dee Estuary. These include Connah's Quay, Shotton, Queensferry, Aston, Garden City, Sealand, Broughton, Bretton, Hawarden, Ewloe, Mancot, Pentre, Saltney and Sandycroft. The population is around 50,000, with a plurality (17,500) living in Connah's Quay.
Bidston railway station serves the village of Bidston, Merseyside, England. The station is situated at a junction of the West Kirby branch of the Wirral line, which is part of the Merseyrail network; it also serves as the northern terminus for the Borderlands line from Wrexham Central, with services operated by Transport for Wales.
The Borderlands line, also known as the Bidston–Wrexham or Wrexham–Bidston line, is a railway line between Bidston on the Wirral Peninsula in England and Wrexham Central in the north-east of Wales. Passenger train services are part of the Wales & Borders franchise and are operated by Transport for Wales Rail. The line connects to the Merseyrail network at Bidston, the North Wales Coast Line at Shotton and the Shrewsbury–Chester line at Wrexham General. Parts of the line in Wales are used by freight trains, serving Deeside Industrial Park and the Hanson Cement works to the south of Buckley.
The Chester & Connah's Quay Railway ran from Chester Northgate in Chester, Cheshire, England, to Shotton, Flintshire, Wales. It was in use for its full length from 1890 to 1992.
Chester Northgate is a former railway station in Chester, Cheshire, England, that was a terminus for the Cheshire Lines Committee and Great Central Railway. It was the city centre's second station with regular services to Manchester Central, Seacombe and Wrexham Central.
Chester railway station is located in Newtown, Chester, England. Services are operated by Avanti West Coast, Merseyrail, Northern and Transport for Wales. From 1875 to 1969, the station was known as Chester General to distinguish it from Chester Northgate. The station's Italianate frontage was designed by the architect Francis Thompson.
Hawarden Bridge is a railway bridge over the River Dee, near Shotton, Flintshire, Wales. It was built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, as part of the Chester & Connah's Quay Railway. It opened on 3 August 1889.
Hawarden Bridge railway station is a railway station near Shotton, Flintshire, Wales. It is situated on the Borderlands line 13 miles (21 km) north of Wrexham Central, on the north side of Hawarden Bridge over the River Dee. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Transport for Wales.
Colwyn Bay railway station is on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line serving the seaside town of Colwyn Bay in North Wales.
Rhyl railway station is on the Crewe to Holyhead North Wales Coast Line and serves the holiday resort of Rhyl, Wales.
Wrexham General is the main railway station serving the city of Wrexham, north-east Wales, and one of the two serving the city, alongside Wrexham Central. It is currently operated and mostly served by Transport for Wales, with some additional services provided by Avanti West Coast to London Euston.
Heswall railway station is a railway station on the eastern edge of the town of Heswall on the Wirral Peninsula in England. It is on the Borderlands Line. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Transport for Wales. In 2008 the station was refurbished. The station was previously known as Heswall Hills, as there was previously another station serving Heswall, on the Birkenhead Railway's branch line from West Kirby to Hooton, that is now a footpath known as the Wirral Way.
Hawarden railway station serves the village of Hawarden in Flintshire, Wales. It is situated on the Borderlands Line 10½ miles (17 km) north of Wrexham Central and all passenger services are operated by Transport for Wales. The station is unstaffed.
Buckley railway station serves the town of Buckley in Flintshire, Wales. The station is 8½ miles (14 km) north of Wrexham Central on the Borderlands Line.
Chester Liverpool Road was a station on the former Chester & Connah's Quay Railway between Chester Northgate and Hawarden Bridge. It was located at the junction of Liverpool Road and Brook Lane in Chester, Cheshire, England.
Sealand, in Flintshire, Wales, was the final station on the former Chester & Connah's Quay Railway between Chester Northgate in Cheshire, England and Hawarden Bridge in Flintshire. Services also passed through this station before joining the North Wales and Liverpool Railway. Located 200 metres (660 ft) west of the A550 near RAF Sealand, the station was just before a triangular junction at Dee marshes which controlled rail services from North Wales, Liverpool and Cheshire.
Connah's Quay railway station was a railway station located to the north of Connah's Quay, Flintshire, Wales on the south bank of the canalised section of the River Dee.