Flintshire railway stations rated among worst in UK for train punctuality, except Penyffordd

Every train station in Flintshire is rated among the worst 500 in the UK for service reliability and punctuality – with one exception.

Only Penyffordd Station is ranked outside the bottom 500 – placing 504th over the last three months according to monitoring website On Time Trains with 28% of services on-time and another 28% only 1-2 minutes late.

What’s more, looking at the key Borderlands Line commuter route that links North Wales with the Wirral and Liverpool – of the 14 stations on that line 13 are operated by Transport for Wales and only four of those – Penyffordd, Upton, Neston and Wrexham Central – are not in the bottom 500.

The worst station in Flintshire is Hawarden Bridge where 77% or services are late and 6% cancelled entirely.

The small station was originally opened in 1924 to serve John Summers Steelworks but following the closure of the Chester line and the decline in steel production in Flintshire, passenger numbers have dwindled to single figures.

Nevertheless, it is ranked 2,493rd out of 2,636 UK train stations, placing it within the bottom 150 stations in the country as only 18% of services arrived there on time in the last 12 weeks.

Nearby Hawarden Station fared little better, ranked 2,445th in the UK with 83% of services arriving late. Over the last three months just 12% of services to Hawarden were on time. It only fared better than it’s near neighbour as it had a better record of services running only 1-2 minutes late.

Other bottom 500 stations on the Borderlands Line include Buckley (2,213th – 63% of services late), Hope (2,293rd- 62% late), Caergwrle (2,243rd – 68% late), Cefn-y-Bedd (2,204th – 60% late), Gwersyllt (2,174th – 61% late) and Wrexham General (2,306th – 59% late).

The percentage of train services arriving on-time along the full line from Wrexham-Bidston ranges from 61% to 12% – underlining the historic issues users of the line have reported over reliability.

Marie Daly, Chief Customer and Culture Officer at Transport for Wales (TfW) said: “TfW is continuing to invest and transform rail services in Wales and the Borders and these future changes will help us further improve the customer experience.

“We’ll be able to increase connectivity and offer more rail services for the people of North Wales.”

Away from the Borderland Line, Flint station also ranked poorly in the UK, placing 2,222nd with 51% of services late, 42% on time and 7% cancelled.

A Transport for Wales spokesperson said: “We know when trains are delayed or cancelled this can cause significant inconvenience for customers and we would like to apologise for this.

“Whilst there have been several issues in the last few months, storms Darragh and Bert did have a huge impact on Wales and the western

side of the UK, leaving lines blocked by trees, debris and flooding.

“Working with our partners in Network Rail we had multiple speed restrictions in place and recently the route between Wrexham and Shrewsbury has been closed for a number of days due to a landslip.

“We understand the importance of the Wrexham line to the local community and have introduced brand new and newly refurbished trains onto the route, as well as dedicated team to improve performance. This resulted in a significant improvement in punctuality and reliability, as well as growth in the number of passengers using our services.

“In the year to September 2024, the Wrexham-Bidston Borderlands Line saw 60,000 extra passenger journeys made and a 27% increase in trains arriving on time.

“We continue to look at measures to improve performance and reliability for our customers both at a local and national level, with workshops set up to deliver this in partnership with Network Rail.”

By Alec Doyle – Local Democracy Reporter