Borderlands Line

The Borderlands Line (Welsh: Llinell y Gororau) is the railway line between Wrexham, Wales, running north to Bidston on the Wirral in England.

Passenger train services are operated by Arriva Trains Wales between Wrexham Central and Bidston. Trains run every hour Monday to Saturday daytime, every two hours after 18:45 and on Sundays. Connections with other National Rail services are at Bidston (for Merseyrail services to West Kirby, Birkenhead and Liverpool), Shotton (for Chester and the North Wales Coast Line) and Wrexham General (for the Shrewsbury-Chester Line).

The line is sometimes also referred to as the Mid Wirral Line, as most of the line runs north-south through the middle of the Wirral peninsular. The Wirral's other railway routes are provided with frequent Merseyrail electric trains. The Borderlands Line has a relatively infrequent diesel operated service.

Holders of the Concessionary Travel Pass resident in Wrexham and Flintshire can travel free along part of the line, from Wrexham Central Station to Hawarden Bridge Station. Holders of the Merseytravel Concessionary Travel Pass can travel free along the section of the line that runs through Merseyside, from Heswall Station to Bidston Station.

Link to detailed map of the line. 

Passenger services
The train service is normally operated with Class 150s. It was formerly operated by Class 153s. In October 2006 the operator moved to using Class 150s or paired Class 153 units. The latter disappeared in favour of the Class 150s in December 2006.

The franchise
Upon privatisation, passenger services were transferred from Regional Railways to North West Trains, later known as First North Western. In 2003, a review led to the creation of the All-Wales Franchise, meaning services were transferred to Wales & Borders Trains. Arriva Trains Wales succeeded Wales & Borders on 8 December 2003, and has operated all passenger services on the line since. Future electrification plans could see the line transfer to Merseyrail.

Infrastructure History
The southern part of the line was built by the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway (WMCQR) and the northern part by the North Wales and Liverpool Railway, a joint committee of the WMCQR and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. Both railways were acquired by the Great Central Railway on 1 January 1905.

Two Wirral stations on the line closed in the 1950s; Storeton in 1951 and Burton Point in 1955. No trace of the station at Storeton remains, yet Burton Point station is still almost entirely intact, the station buildings currently forming part of a garden centre.

Development and electrification
Proposals exist to electrify a section or all of the line with incorporation into the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network, allowing through services to the underground sections of Birkenhead and Liverpool and onwards to Liverpool John Lennon Airport. New stations at Deeside Industrial Park, Woodchurch and Beechwood were in the proposal. Nothing definitive has been confirmed. In August 2006 it was announced there would be a feasibility study into the third-rail electrification of the line.

The most recent study, conducted by Network Rail in 2008, investigated the costs of extending the Merseyrail network third-rail electrification to Wrexham. However, when the cost was estimated at £207 million, Merseytravel announced that cheaper overhead-line electrification would also be considered. This would require dual-voltage trains with third-rail and overhead-wire capability or adopting trains using on-board supercapacitors that charge up very quickly while stopped at stations and run without wires until the next station for a subsequent recharge. The Welsh government is pressing for improved rail connections between North Wales and Liverpool which may accelerate the electrification of the line. However government budget restrictions in light of the Credit Crunch may further delay electrification.

There have been proposals included in the electrification plan for the construction of two new stations on the Wirral section of the line; Beechwood between Bidston and Upton to serve the Beechwood estate, and Woodchurch to serve Prenton, the Woodchurch estate and the North Cheshire Business Park. Connections would be provided to and from most of West Wirral's bus services to Birkenhead, and to "park and ride" travellers from other parts of the Wirral via the M53 motorway.

Political pressure to electrify the line continues. Network Rail has considered the effects of electrification.