A TRAIN firm which manages Chester railway station is saying Arriva-derci as the new operator prepares to take control next month.

Arriva Trains Wales has been running the Wales & Border line franchise for the past 15 years, operating trains across Wales and other routes, calling at stations including Chester, Wrexham, Warrington, Whitchurch, Gobowen, Holyhead, Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street.

But it's the end of the line for the firm as it hands over the running of the rail line franchise on October 14 to French-Spanish transport giant KeolisAmey, which will run the network through its Cymru division under Transport for Wales branded trains.

As part of the farewell, Arriva Trains Wales managing director Tom Joyner has written a letter to customers thanking them for their support, saying the railway network is in "a much better state than 15 years ago".

He wrote: "As we approach the final month of the Arriva Trains Wales franchise, I want to take the opportunity to thank our customers and stakeholders for their valued support, loyalty and custom during this period.

"It has been a pleasure serving you over the last 15 years where much has been achieved during challenging economic periods.

"Incredibly, 168 of the stations we were given to manage did not even have any form of customer information system. It was clear that the expectations were not high with us being given a now infamous 'zero growth franchise'. The franchise allocated a sum of £400,000 to be invested in to the company, however we have actually invested over £33 million.

"So we have well and truly defied all expectations, growing customer journeys from 18 million to 33 million and the number of passenger trains per day from 620 to more than 1,000.

"We’ve overseen major investment of over £100 million in some of our major stations with Cardiff Central, Queen Street, Swansea, Newport, Chester, Port Talbot, Shrewsbury and most recently Bridgend Station amongst those transformed.

"It hasn’t always been easy; we have faced challenges along the way and difficult situations, but we’ve always come through them working closely with our partners in Welsh Government, the Department for Transport and Network Rail and have come out stronger as a result.

"Over 800 out of our 2,300 colleagues have been with us for the duration of our 15-year franchise, demonstrating how they enjoy providing fantastic customer service and how much they enjoy working for this great company. These figures demonstrate to me how much this company means to our people.

"We are rolling out our #Diolch campaign to customers, colleagues and stakeholders in which we will be highlighting the major achievements over that last 15 years and to thank all who have contributed to making this period a happy and successful one.

"It really has been an honour for us as Arriva Trains Wales to play our part in the railway history in Wales and the Borders and we can be proud of our legacy as we hand over the baton to Transport for Wales. Our railway network is in a much better state now than 15 years ago and for that I thank all of our customers, our stakeholders and our colleagues."

Arriva Trains Wales has also revealed on social media that staff across the network will be dishing out sweet treats to passengers to thank them for their support.

When Transport for Wales was announced as the new franchise runner in June, KeolisAmey made a number of bold pledges to revamp the railway system.

Among them are replacing old trains, with 95 per cent of journeys to be on 148 brand new trains by 2023, hiring 600 more staff, investment in stations at Chester, Shotton and Wrexham General, a deep-clean of all stations, increased Sunday services and half-price fares extended to 16- to 18-year-olds.