THERE has been a rise in passengers on the Chester Wrexham Shrewsbury line, it has been announced.

The Office of the Rail Regulator issued its annual report late last year on station passenger usage.

And it’s good news for the Chester Wrexham Shrewsbury line, which shows increased numbers of passengers during 2018/2019.

The increases saw Chester up eight per cent to 5,061,662 from 4,686,374 as well as Wrexham General up 7.6 per cent to 529,622 from 492,390.

Ruabon was also up 7.3 per cent to 102,628 from 95,670 and Chirk was up 5.6 per cent to 79,746 from 75,524.

Cllr David A Bithell, chair of the Chester Shrewsbury Rail Partnership, said: “This demonstrates how important our railways are to all our communities. Passengers in the area have chosen to travel by train as its gives them good connectivity to the places they need to reach whether that be for work, education or leisure.

“The changes to the December timetable by Transport for Wales which has resulted in the loss of a morning service north and a two hour wait for a train south in the afternoon is even harder to understand when faced with these figures. Passengers need a frequent and reliable service and we will continue to press for the reinstatement of the hourly service.”