A group of influential business leaders are calling for direct train services between North Wales and London to be reinstated in full as a matter of urgency.
The plea came from the North Wales Mersey Dee Business Council along with some of the biggest names in the tourism industry who fear the coming summer season will be a “major lost opportunity” because of the lack of services.
Among those fronting the campaign are two of the region’s biggest tourism operators, Zip World president and co-founder Sean Taylor and Adam Williams, owner of Llandudno Pier, Tir Prince Raceway in Kinmel Bay and a string of holiday parks and amusement arcades.
Also playing a central role in the drive is North Wales Tourism, which represents nearly 2,000 businesses across the region’s six counties.
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Avanti took over the West Coast franchise from Virgin Trains in December 2019 and vowed to maintain and increase the existing services linking North Wales, Chester and London. But the UK’s transport infrastructure ground to a virtual halt when lockdown was imposed. As a result, the number of direct trains between North Wales/Chester and London was slashed to three return services a day.
On Monday Avanti introduced more direct services - with five trains a day from North Wales/Chester to London and five direct trains in the opposite direction terminating at Holyhead or Bangor.
But that’s still short of the daily services that were running before the pandemic - when there were 14 daily returns (28 total trips) between North Wales/Chester and London.
The Business Council has been lobbying Avanti and UK Government to reinstate the full original timetable by December at the latest.
Sean Taylor, from Zip World, which employs 500 people in Wales, said: “It’s hugely important to us and everybody else in North Wales to have proper direct train services for lots of different reasons. One is perception because symbolically having a great train service says that North Wales is open for business and that we’re not some sleepy backwater. On a practical level, if people want to come here on business or on holiday, having limited direct services puts them off – it’s a very real barrier for travellers.”
It was a sentiment echoed by Llandudno Pier boss Adam Williams, whose businesses employ around 320 staff.
He said: “Resorts like Rhyl, Towyn, Kinmel Bay and Llandudno depend on trains and, with the issue of climate change looming large, it’s more important than ever that we encourage people to travel by train.
“The trouble is that by not having a proper direct train service we are sending out the message that people who want to come should drive here in their cars.”
Jim Jones, chief executive of North Wales Tourism, said: “Transport connectivity is incredibly important in terms of tourism and the flow of visitors in and out of North Wales, especially this link between London and Holyhead. It’s long overdue because this is a vitally important strategic route and tourism is central to the economic recovery here in North Wales.”
The campaign is being coordinated by Ashley Rogers, chief executive of the Business Council and board member of Growth Track 360, a cross-border alliance pushing to secure £1bn of rail improvements.
He said: “The increase in services in May and planned for September are a welcome step in the right direction and testament to positive working between the Department for Transport and Avanti.
“However, direct services to and from North Wales and Chester are essential for the regional economy, whether that’s tourism bringing in our visitors or business travel, and anything below 14 return services a day means a 20th century service in a 21st century world.”
An Avanti spokesperson said: “From Monday of this week we have doubled the number of direct trains between London and Chester / North Wales from two to four in addition to an evening service from Euston to Bangor. We have also increased the number of seats by using ten carriage trains on the busier services.
“These are in addition to the shuttle services we operate in between Holyhead and Crewe. We expect to run more direct services from September. We will continue to review our timetable in collaboration with stakeholders from Government, Network Rail and industry partners in order to provide the best balance between connectivity for customers and value for money for taxpayers. Of course, our aspiration is to provide greater connectivity as passenger numbers increase and staff shortages are not impacting our services across our network.”
