Virgin Voyager approaching Aber Conwy.

The North Wales Coast Line is the railway line from Crewe to Holyhead. Virgin Trains consider their services along it to be a spur of the West Coast Main Line. The first section from Crewe to Chester was built by the Chester and Crewe Railway and absorbed by the Grand Junction Railway shortly before opening in 1840. The remainder was built between 1844 and 1850 by the Chester and Holyhead Railway Company as the route of the Irish Mail services to Dublin. The line was later incorporated in the London and North Western Railway. Between Chester and Saltney Junction, the line was, from the start, used by trains of the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway later to be incorporated in the Great Western Railway.

 

 

The line is not electrified, so Virgin West Coast Pendolino trains have to be hauled by a diesel locomotive. The alternative to this is for them to use their Voyagers, which they have done since December 2007.

 

The main towns served by the route are listed below:

Crewe

Chester Line diverges to serve Wrexham, Shrewsbury and Cardiff (via the Shrewsbury to Chester Line - Route 14)

Wirral Line diverges to serve Birkenhead and Liverpool - Route 21 (Merseyrail)

 

Shotton The Borderlands Line (part of Route 22) from Wrexham to Bidston crosses at Shotton with interchange facilities.

 

Flint

Prestatyn

Rhyl

Abergele

Colwyn Bay

Llandudno Junction Lines diverge to serve Blaenau Ffestiniog (via the Conwy Valley Line) and Llandudno

 

Conwy

Penmaenmawr

Llanfairfechan

Bangor

Llanfairpwll Line diverges to Amlwch (Anglesey Central Railway, disused)

 

Bodorgan

Ty Croes

Rhosneigr

Valley Freight from Wylfa nuclear power station is loaded at a depot in Valley

 

Holyhead

 

The line contains several notable engineering structures, namely Conwy railway bridge across the River Conwy, and Britannia Bridge across the Menai Strait.

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