THE planned reintroduction of a train operator's hourly Chester to Liverpool service has been delayed until next month.

Previously, we reported that Transport for Wales (TfW) announced, as part of a range of new services being offered from December 10, a number of trains were being added to its services across north and south Wales, and into England.

Among those was due to be the reintroduction of hourly Chester to Liverpool services, travelling near Liverpool Airport, providing another key link between the two cities.

But TfW has now said there is a "slight delay" to those plans, due to storm damage affecting several of its trains' wheels in November, meaning those trains will instead be repaired this month.

The train operator had also told Cheshire MP Mike Amesbury there had been delays in the delivery of sufficient brand-new Class 197 trains.

Chester and District Standard: Mike Amesbury MP.Mike Amesbury MP. (Image: Mike Amesbury MP.)

The news has left the MP ‘staggered’ and frustrated that the service, which runs via Helsby and Frodsham, has still not returned to the pre-pandemic timetable.

Instead, passengers will continue to face a two-hourly direct service during the day and a three-hourly direct service in the evening.

Weaver Vale MP Mr Amesbury said: “I am simply staggered. I’ve lost count of the number of times the operator has broken its promise to restore the hourly service. Transport for Wales is only reliable in being unreliable.

“I and, most importantly, passengers in my constituency are deeply frustrated and it’s not acceptable.”

He added: “We celebrated when the Halton Curve was reinstated during my time as Member of Parliament but how can it deliver its full potential if we haven’t got sufficient trains running on the line!”

Mr Amesbury and other local MPs met the operator’s chief executive James Price at parliament in July to raise concerns about the services being delivered.

A spokesperson for Transport for Wales said: “We have a comprehensive programme in place for repairing the damaged wheels on the trains affected, which will take most of December to complete. This will cause a few weeks of delay to delivering the frequency enhancements planned as part of the December 2023 new timetable. 

“Our engineers are working as fast as they can to get the repairs completed, which will put us in a stronger position to reliably deliver the new services, making sure we have enough rolling stock.”