Hawarden Bridge railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

near

Shotton, Flintshire Shotton is a town and community in Flintshire, Wales, within the Deeside conurbation along the River Dee, joined with Connah's Quay, near the border with England. It is located 5 miles (8 km) west of Chester and can be reached by road f ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. It is situated on the Borderlands Line north of Wrexham Central, on the north side of

Hawarden Bridge Hawarden Bridge (; cy, Pont Penarlâg) is a railway bridge over the River Dee, near Shotton, Flintshire, Wales. It was built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (which later became the Great Central Railway), as part of t ...

over the River Dee. The station and all trains serving it are operated by

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) consi ...

History

The station was opened by the

LNER LNER may refer to: * London and North Eastern Railway, a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1923 until 1947 * London North Eastern Railway, a train operating company in the United Kingdom since 2018 * Liquid neutral earthing resistor, a typ ...

on 22 September 1924 as ''Hawarden Bridge Halt'', adjacent to the John Summers steelworks. The station was renamed as ''Hawarden Bridge'' in 1954 when it was upgraded. The station was considerably busier in times past, being the nearest to the triangular junction with the former line to and Mickle Trafford as well as the steel plant. The Chester line closed to passengers in September 1968, but remained open for freight until June 1992 (it is now a footpath and cycleway) whilst the shutdown of much of the works in 1980 (with the loss of 6,000 jobs) led to a significant decline in use of the station. The signal box to the north of Dee Marsh Junction remains in use to control access to the remnants of the former Shotwick Sidings for the dispatch of finished steel products. The sidings were once used by heavy trains of iron ore from Bidston Dock in Birkenhead bound for the sidings Shotwick. An industrial park and rail-connected paper mill now occupy part of the old Shotton works site, whilst the rolling mill there is still operational receiving steel coil for processing from South Wales by rail. The signal box also acts as the 'fringe' to the Merseyside Integrated Electronic Control Centre at Sandhills. It is situated immediately to the north of the

railway swing bridge that last opened in 1960.

Facilities

The station is unmanned and only has basic amenities (CIS screens, waiting shelters and timetable poster boards on each platform). Step-free access is available to both platforms, but transfer between them requires the use of a

barrow crossing There are around 6,000 level crossings in the United Kingdom, of which about 1,500 are public highway crossings. This number is gradually being reduced as the risk of accidents at level crossings is considered high. The director of the UK Rail ...

. The Chester Millennium Greenway cycle route runs adjacent to the station and provides access to the northbound platform. The route also connects the station to Shotton. The station's name in Welsh is ''Pont Penarlâg''. The name is announced on Welsh station announcements, however, despite the station being located in

, it is not displayed on the platform signage.

Services

The station sees an infrequent service, with the only trains calling during the morning and evening peak periods towards Wrexham Central southbound and Bidston northbound. There are four southbound and three northbound trains a day Monday to Saturday. In May 2013, Arriva Trains Wales introduced a Sunday service at the station. On a Sunday, all passenger services (every 90 minutes) on the Borderlands Line will stop, on request.

References

Bibliography

External links

{{Flintshire railway stations Railway stations in Flintshire DfT Category F2 stations Former London and North Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1924 Railway stations served by Transport for Wales Rail Railway request stops in Great Britain