Transport for Wales has deferred the doubling of frequency on the Wrexham to Bidston Borderlands line to May 2022, when it will institute a new semi-fast service. Class 230 units from Vivarail are now expected to operate some diagrams after the December timetable change.
The line’s hourly service is a poor relation of TfW’s frequent local services in the South Wales Valleys and of Merseyrail’s Wirral services. TfW announced in 2018 that two Borderlands trains per hour would commence in December 2021, using Class 230s. However, the units were delivered late, and crew training was delayed by Covid-19 and subsequently by a small fire on a Class 230 on 1 July.