Extra North Wales to London train services being added by Avanti West Coast
Avanti West Coast is set to add more services to its North Wales route as part of its May timetable change.
From Sunday 18 May, the intercity operator is boosting connectivity between Holyhead and London with the addition of 12 services each week – an increase of 17 percent.
Chester will also benefit from a further two services from the capital at the weekend. The company has been under pressure to increase services after cutbacks during the Covid crisis and the failure to restore the same services after the pandemic.
The new services include:
Two additional services each weekday between Holyhead and London Euston – including an early service that provides an early morning arrival into the capital before 9am. The 5pm departure from London Euston will also be strengthened to ten carriages as far as Chester.
Two extra trains will operate on Saturday – one from Holyhead to London, and one from London to Chester.
On Sunday an existing service from Holyhead will be extended to London, plus an additional train from London to Chester will operate.
Transport for Wales is also adding in extra train services on Sundays on the busy holiday routes -Cambrian mainline, North Wales Coast and West Wales.
As part of the timetable change, Avanti West Coast is utilising its new £350m fleet of Evero trains to serve the North Wales route with more seats this summer.
The extra services, coupled with the greater use of the intercity operator's news trains, will add 5890 seats each week between North Wales, Chester and London.
Nick Smith, Regional Growth Manager at Avanti West Coast, said: 'We're delighted to be introducing more services between North Wales and London this summer by utilising our new Evero fleet. These additional services not only deliver on our commitment to improve connectivity to the regions we serve but also enhance the experience for our customers, which we hope will encourage more people to travel by train.
'This latest investment in our North Wales operations continues an exciting chapter for our employees and customers in the region, and we enjoyed marking the occasion by welcoming Ken Skates onboard.'
Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Ken Skates, said: 'This is good news. I am pleased to see progress towards the restoration of services to their pre-covid level. 'Good transport links between North Wales, Chester and the rest of the UK are vital for our economy to thrive and help provide long term benefits for the region. I meet regularly with Avanti and look forward to working with them to deliver further improvements in service levels in the future.'
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