Wales and Borders Franchise - what would you do?

[507021]

The "what if" thread about the next East Midlands franchise got me thinking, what would you do if you were in charge of the next Wales and Borders franchise?

Here are my ideas, however, my knowledge is somewhat limited in this area, so any corrections or advice would be appreciated.

• Replace the Pacer fleet with more Class 769s on top of the five currently on order, using them on the Cheltenham-Cardiff/Maesteg, Valley Lines and Halton Curve services, which would enable the complete replacement of the Pacer fleet and significantly boost capacity. I don't know exactly how many 769s would be needed, but I'd guess at around 30-32 units on top of the 5 on order?
• Deploy the Class 150/2 fleet in pairs on services to/from Barry Island and Penarth, with a two car set used on the Cardiff Bay shuttle.
• Lease the Class 185s which are being released from TransPennine Express, operating them alongside the three-car Class 175s on regional services. This could release the Class 175/0s for services in and around South and Mid Wales, obviously requiring selective door opening if they were to be used on the Heart of Wales line.

This is all hypothetical and I have no idea if any of them would work due to limited detailed knowledge of the franchise's network, but I thought it would be interesting to hear everyone else's ideas for the Wales and Borders franchise as well.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

Simplified timetable where there’s an hourly service on most routes, if not better.

- Hourly Holyhead to Liverpool Lime Street via Halton Curve
- Hourly Llandudno to Crewe
- Two-hourly Holyhead to Manchester Airport
- Two-hourly Bangor to Manchester Airport
- Two-hourly Llandudno to Blaenau
- Two-hourly Llandudno to Llandudno Jn shuffle (opposite Ffestiniog)
- Hourly Chester to Cardiff Central
- Hourly Manchester Piccadilly to Milford Haven
- Hourly Birmingham to Aberystwyth and Pwlhelli
- Two-hourly Crewe to Pembroke Dock (linking the all stops Crewe to Shrewsbury, the Heart of Wales and providing a standard two-hourly down to Pembroke)
- Two-hourly Swansea to Fishguard Harbour via Carmarthen
- Hourly Cheltenham Spa to Maesteg
- Hourly Ebbw Vale to Swansea (Swanline stopper)
- Half-hourly Bridgend to Valley Lines
- Quarter-hourly Barry Island to Valley Lines
- Quarter-hourly Penarth to Valley Lines

Send all the 175s away to a new operator and in turn standardise the longer distance stuff with a full fleet of 158s and 159s with some 5 car services (e.g. Manchester to Milford Haven and Holyhead to Manchester).

Offset lost through trains with connections with other services e.g. Cardiff to Chester connects with the Llandudno and Holyhead; Birmingham to Aberystwyth connects with the Chester).

Rationalised Valley Lines timetable.

 

[sw1ller]

Give Wrexham - bidston to merseyrail and have a more frequent service that stoped at Deeside industrial park (not just hawarden bridge) and broughton. (New track would be needed obviously).

Chester to Birmingham International via Stafford as a regular service.

More 158’s to keep trains a minimum of 4 coaches. (A lot more).

 

[507021]

Give Wrexham - bidston to merseyrail and have a more frequent service that stoped at Deeside industrial park (not just hawarden bridge) and broughton. (New track would be needed obviously).

I completely forgot about that one in my list, oops!

Slightly off topic, I would do the same. As the Class 777s are designed to have pantographs fitted in the future, they will be more than suitable for this service. I personally would run this service between Birkenhead North (Platform 1) and Wrexham Central, because I don't think there'd be enough paths on the Loop Line for a decent frequency on a direct service from Wrexham to Liverpool.

 

[meolebrace]

Hourly Cambrian Coast service...both branches.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I definitely agree with the idea of a proper and consistent "Takt".

 

[PHILIPE]

Give Wrexham - bidston to merseyrail and have a more frequent service that stoped at Deeside industrial park (not just hawarden bridge) and broughton. (New track would be needed obviously).

Chester to Birmingham International via Stafford as a regular service.

More 158’s to keep trains a minimum of 4 coaches. (A lot more).

I 'm sure I've read that a Chester to Birmingham via Stafford would be ruled out due to pathing. There's more trains now than when the 37s worked round about at the start of the Millenium

 

[squizzler]

I am assuming discussion is a place to make less serious suggestions than the thread relating to the actual franchise competition so here goes:

New branches for old: Close the Conwy valley line south of Betws-y-coed and offer as a bike route or for narrow gauge operator. The closure act would legally oblige the franchise holder and infrastructure provider to use the long term savings in Maintainance to build the proposed spur from Bangor to Caernarfon. Leave provision to extend onwards to Portmadoc.

 

[Gareth Marston]

I 'm sure I've read that a Chester to Birmingham via Stafford would be ruled out due to pathing. There's more trains now than when the 37s worked round about at the start of the Millenium

Theirs already disquiet about the impact of the extra off peak WMR Shrewsbury to New St service on timekeeping down the Stour Valley between Wolverhampton and New St. Theirs also stakeholders in the West Midlands bellyaching about ATW running through to INTL as it is believing that extra local stopping trains are a better option.
New St to Wolves Off Peak is already
1 tph VTWC to Scotland
2 tph XC to Manchester
1 tph ATW to Shrewsbury and beyond
2 tph WMR to Liverpool
1 tph WMR to Shrewsbury
2 tph WMR local stopper

No chance of anything else until HS2 opens or a heavy rail link is done into Snow Hill.

 

[Gareth Marston]

I am assuming discussion is a place to make less serious suggestions than the thread relating to the actual franchise competition so here goes:

New branches for old: Close the Conwy valley line south of Betws-y-coed and offer as a bike route or for narrow gauge operator. The closure act would legally oblige the franchise holder and infrastructure provider to use the long term savings in Maintainance to build the proposed spur from Bangor to Caernarfon. Leave provision to extend onwards to Portmadoc.

Wrap it up in promoting the Welsh Language and Stakeholders will lap it up.....

 

[B&I]

Simplified timetable where there’s an hourly service on most routes, if not better.

- Hourly Holyhead to Liverpool Lime Street via Halton Curve
- Hourly Llandudno to Crewe
- Two-hourly Holyhead to Manchester Airport
- Two-hourly Bangor to Manchester Airport
- Two-hourly Llandudno to Blaenau
- Two-hourly Llandudno to Llandudno Jn shuffle (opposite Ffestiniog)
- Hourly Chester to Cardiff Central
- Hourly Manchester Piccadilly to Milford Haven
- Hourly Birmingham to Aberystwyth and Pwlhelli
- Two-hourly Crewe to Pembroke Dock (linking the all stops Crewe to Shrewsbury, the Heart of Wales and providing a standard two-hourly down to Pembroke)
- Two-hourly Swansea to Fishguard Harbour via Carmarthen
- Hourly Cheltenham Spa to Maesteg
- Hourly Ebbw Vale to Swansea (Swanline stopper)
- Half-hourly Bridgend to Valley Lines
- Quarter-hourly Barry Island to Valley Lines
- Quarter-hourly Penarth to Valley Lines

Send all the 175s away to a new operator and in turn standardise the longer distance stuff with a full fleet of 158s and 159s with some 5 car services (e.g. Manchester to Milford Haven and Holyhead to Manchester).

Offset lost through trains with connections with other services e.g. Cardiff to Chester connects with the Llandudno and Holyhead; Birmingham to Aberystwyth connects with the Chester).

Rationalised Valley Lines timetable.

Why not extend that Cardiff-Chester service to Liverpool?

 

[Gareth Marston]

Why not extend that Cardiff-Chester service to Liverpool?

In terms of linking anywhere from south of Shrewsbury to Liverpool its a slower way to go than via Crewe however it would be a lot more popular destination and generate a lot more through traffic than Holyhead.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Aiming for Birmingham from Wrexham today, I found myself on the Llandudno-Cardiff as far as Shrewsbury.
ATW pulled out all the stops and provided a 150 for the 200-mile run.
It was sparsely occupied, but picked up steadily to Shrewsbury, where 90% of the passengers got off and headed to the Birmingham connection.
The Cardiff train is so important it is non-stop Shrewsbury-Newport, complete with catering trolley.
I know it's the post-Christmas lull, but you have to wonder at the business case for hourly North-South Wales services (as well as hourly Manchester-S Wales).
The Birmingham connection at Shrewsbury comes from Aberystwyth, but splits with one unit going to Holyhead.
That left a single 158 to run to Birmingham and back, sardine-like.
Something not quite right in all that.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Sort out the poor Sunday service that currently exists on most of the valley lines.
I'll be amazed if this isn't done (or at least attempted) by the new operator tbh, it is a pretty easy PR win for not a huge amount of work. You don't even need to provide a full normal service, just something better than a 2 hourly service.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Sort out the poor Sunday service that currently exists on most of the valley lines.

Sort out the poor Sunday service that exists everywhere. It's a normal shopping day.

Particularly ludicrous is the lack of Sunday service on the Conwy Valley (and the lack of a later Friday evening run say 9pm-ish, even if a permanent replacement bus using a decent quality coach) which basically throws away weekend trip tourist revenue. I think it gets one in summer but not winter.

 

[Clansman]

In an ideal situation W&B would get an Anglian style fleet overall with mixed type rolling stock that's bespoke for their routes, and that's going to last them the next 40 years.

Failing that, given all these bi-mode programs going on with BR-era rolling stock, acquiring the 360s and 379s when they go off-lease and giving them a similar mechanical overall wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. It's probably the quickest short term solution for Wales to get rid of their Pacers and try and decrease the age of their fleet, of which the majority of it is in a really tatty state.

 

[gareth950]

Simplified timetable where there’s an hourly service on most routes, if not better.

- Hourly Cheltenham Spa to Maesteg
- Hourly Ebbw Vale to Swansea (Swanline stopper)
- Half-hourly Bridgend to Valley Lines
- Quarter-hourly Barry Island to Valley Lines
- Quarter-hourly Penarth to Valley Lines

Rationalised Valley Lines timetable.

Maesteg and Ebbw Vale need to be half hourly at least.

Not sure what you mean by a 'Rationalised Valley lines timetable'? The aim is for 4tph to the heads of every Valley at least in the peaks.

 

[PHILIPE]

Sort out the poor Sunday service that exists everywhere. It's a normal shopping day.

Particularly ludicrous is the lack of Sunday service on the Conwy Valley (and the lack of a later Friday evening run say 9pm-ish, even if a permanent replacement bus using a decent quality coach) which basically throws away weekend trip tourist revenue. I think it gets one in summer but not winter.

Llandudno is only served in the Summer on a Sunday by a shuttle to and from the Junction.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Llandudno is only served in the Summer on a Sunday by a shuttle to and from the Junction.

No winter Sunday service at Llandudno is similarly ridiculous.

The other thing I think is nonsensical is the Crewe-Chester shuttle - it would be much better portion worked from either Llandudno or Holyhead. With more stock brought in, you could run a 5-car Class 175 formation from Llandudno hourly, with 3 to Manchester and 2 to Crewe - that would be a good match for demand.

Though with more portion working they'd really need to replace the station PIS software, it doesn't handle it at all well unlike the near-standard ATOS system used elsewhere.

 

[PHILIPE]

Maesteg and Ebbw Vale need to be half hourly at least.

Not sure what you mean by a 'Rationalised Valley lines timetable'? The aim is for 4tph to the heads of every Valley at least in the peaks.

Half hourly to Maesteg and Ebbw Vale have been in the pipeline for years but nothing happened yet. Tools were downed on the infrastructure required to allow a half hourly service to Ebbw Vale after much of the work had been done.

 

[gareth950]

I'd still like to know why the poster I quoted thinks there should be a 'rationalised' timetable on the Valley lines, which suggests services should be cut rather than improved.
The Valley lines timetable needs to at least stay as it is with longer trains and/or enhanced frequencies, at least at peak times and definitely on Sundays.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The other thing I think is nonsensical is the Crewe-Chester shuttle - it would be much better portion worked from either Llandudno or Holyhead.

There always has been an hourly shuttle, with a second through service to/from Holyhead before ATW introduced their standard pattern timetable.
ATW diverted the Holyhead at Chester via Shrewsbury, while VT introduced the Euston-Chester Voyager.
The big lack is not extending the Euston west of Chester except in the peaks (apart from a boat train).
You just get a scrum at Chester as most people switch between the various incoming and outgoing services around xx15-20.
It feels like a US hub airport "flight bank" at times.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Isn't a "big change" exactly what you should have with a proper Taktfahrplan?

 

[Llanigraham]

Isn't a "big change" exactly what you should have with a proper Taktfahrplan?

Why do you continually use some German term, that I am sure some of us do not understand?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Something about the Central Wales line and a better service for West Wales using the Swansea District line with a Swansea Vale Parkway.

Not that I have any hang ups on this - honest.

 

[Bwlch y Groes]

If we're talking full crayonista - and obviously not all of this will come down to the franchise holder per se - then this is what I'd want:

*breathes*

- Electrification of everything between the border and Swansea

- Replacement of the Valleys fleet with refurbished 321s, 322s and 323s

- Pick up a few HST GTis for extra fast Swansea-West Wales services and maybe even the Marches

- Redouble Porth-Treherbert, Abercynon-Merthyr Vale, Bargoed-Rhymney and Garth-Tondu to help bring in those extra Valleys services (though it doesn't have to be 4tph, given that that's clearly based on light rail conversion). Aberdare Line redoubling would probably be a bit pointless but maybe add an extra loop in somewhere

- Extra stations in the Valleys:

-- To Pontypridd: Gabalfa, Nantgarw, Upper Boat

-- Taff Vale/Aberdare Lines: Glyncoch

-- Aberdare Line: Ynysboeth/Tyntetown, Cwmbach North

-- Rhondda Line: Hopkinstown

-- Rhymney Line: Cathays Crwys Road, Roath Park

-- Maesteg Line: Llangynwyd

-- Ebbw Vale Line: Newport West/Maesglas, Risca Darran Road, Abercarn, Crumlin and Cwm

-- City Line: Ely Mill

This would come with more skip-stopping not to bog down individual services, like we do up norf

- Extra SWML stations at Magor/Undy, Llanwern, Newport East (Maindee), Coedkernew, Rumney, Roath, St Fagans, Miskin/Hensol, Brackla and Margam, along with the confirmed one at St Mellons. You'd need new/extended local stopping services on the SWML to pick these up, more use of the slow lines east of Cardiff, and perhaps an extra loop around St Fagans (in addition to the upgraded Miskin Loops)

- Extra Marches Line stations at Caerleon, Llantarnam and Panteg/Sebastopol. You could even stick a bay in that huge platform at Pontypool and New Inn and run a local stopping services from there to Newport

- Extra VoG stations at St Athan, Llandow, Ewenny and Bridgend College

- Reopen Aberdare-Hirwaun with a station at Trecynon (and that extra loop can go in at Aberdare through the old station)

- Reopen Llanhilleth-Abertillery

- Reopen Pontyclun-Beddau with stations at Talbot Green, Llantrisant and Gwaunmeisgyn

- Reopen Ystrad Mynach-Dowlais/Merthyr East with stations at Nelson/Llancaiach, Trelewis and Bedlinog

- Reopen Maesteg-Caerau (the trackbed's all still there and opens you up to extra passengers from the Afan Valley)

- Reopen Newport-Caerphilly with stations at Bassaleg, Machen, Trethomas and Lansbury Park

- Reopen Coryton-Tongwynlais (or at least a park-and-ride station close to J32 of the M4)

- Start running Newport-Ebbw Vale services (you'd need to expand Newport station for this)

- Rebuild an extra platform/turnback at Pontarddulais and run a commuter shuttle from there to Llanelli, perhaps with the future aspiration to extend to Ammanford Town/Gwaun-cae-Gurwen

- Long term aspiration to open a new Swansea East station next to the docks, and run services to it from Llanelli via the Swansea District Line (including new stations), Glynneath and Onllwyn

I'm pretty sure all of this is technically feasible. The infrastructure is there for a lot of it, and most of it has already been proposed. It just requires a bit more creative thinking and oomph from the local/regional/national authorities, and some genuine proper investment. It would be 10x more effective than wasting a few million on shiny new trams and digging up Cardiff's roads for city running. But then I'm not a politician so what do I know? If you have to have your trams, convert the Cardiff Bay Branch and run them into the city from there

I'm not an expert on service frequency in Mid and North Wales but I'd concur with those suggesting more frequent services for Shrewsbury-Aberystwyth. You could probably also add a few more stations onto the line - Carno, Abermule, Llanbadarn and maybe a Shrewsbury West Parkway (in addition to Bow Street). Not all would be served by all the services, though

The Amlwch branch (calling at Gaerwen and Llangefni) being reopened is logical, and ideally I'd like to see Bangor-Caernarfon reopened too (stations at Parc Menai and Y Felinheli), but equally you could reopen that as a WHR extension as has been suggested in the past. Likewise, Blaenau-Trawsfynydd would make a great Ffestiniog extension

 

[Gareth]

Borderlands Line 2tph - one all stops, one semi-fast. Ideally, re-extend to Birkenhead North and install a third track between there and Bidston Junction so that it can remain operationally separate from Merseyrail.

Lime Street-Chester to be extended to at least Wrexham General. I believe this had a good if not better business case than terminating at Chester but probably needed more units and they didn't want to spend the money. Hopefully, the initial Chester service will reinforce the business case.

Some Liverpool-South Wales trains would be nice.

 

[Parallel]

I recently posted this on a different thread:

I haven't had a detailed look at paths and it would be out of the question with the current level of stock availability, but I'd like to see something like the below:

Cambrian line
- 1tph Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury (Birmingham Intl services joining with 1tp2h from Pwllheli at Machynlleth); 1tp2h extending to Birmingham International & 1tp2h extending all stations to Crewe.

North Wales Coast
- 2tph Llandudno - Llandudno Junction; 1tph extending to Manchester Airport; 1tp2h extending all stations to Holyhead & 1tp2h extending to Blaenau Ffestiniog
- 1tph Holyhead to Chester principle stations only (except peak times); 1tp2h extending to Birmingham International via Stafford & 1tp2h extending to Cardiff Central

Chester area services
- 1tph Chester to Shrewsbury; 1tp2h extending to Cardiff Central & 1tp2h extending to Birmingham International joining at Wolverhampton with 1tp2h from Holyhead
- 1tp2h Holyhead to Birmingham International via Stafford
- 1tph Chester - Crewe; 1tp2h extending Crewe - Shrewsbury calling at Nantwich, Whitchurch and Wem.
- 1tph to Holyhead principal stations only (Shotton, Flint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Bangor and Holyhead - More stops on peak time trains)
- 1tph to Llandudno calling at all stations
- 1tph to Manchester Airport via Warrington

Shrewsbury & Marches line area services
- 3tp2h Shrewsbury - Cardiff Central; 1tph extending to Carmarthen; 1tp2h extending to Milford Haven (as now)
- 1tph Shrewsbury to Chester; 1tp2h extending principle stations to Holyhead
- 4tp2h to Crewe with 1tph extending to Manchester Picadilly; 1tp2h all stations to Crewe; 1tp2h calling at Wem, Whitchurch, Nantwich and Crewe and extending to Chester
- 1tph to Birmingham International
- 1tph to Aberystwyth with 1tp2h to Pwllheli dividing at Machynlleth
- 1tp2h to Llandrindod with 1tp4h extending to Swansea via HOWL
- 1tp2h Hereford to Bristol Temple Meads via Maindee East Curve (maybe operated by GWR though?)
- 1tph Abergavenny to Maesteg

Cardiff Central mainline services
- 1tph Maesteg to Abergavenny all stations
- 1tph Swansea to Cheltenham Spa all stations Swansea - Bridgend
- 3tp2h to Shrewsbury; 1tph to Manchester Piccadilly & 1tp2h to Holyhead
- 1tph to Carmarthen; 1tp2h to Milford Haven
- 1tph Cardiff to Ebbw Vale Town
- 1tph Newport to Ebbw Vale Town
- 1tp2h Cardiff Central to Whitland; 1tp4h to Pembroke Dock & 1tp4h to Fishguard Harbour (running via District line)

Swansea area services
- 1tph to Manchester Piccadilly
- 1tph to Carmarthen; 1tp2h extending to Milford Haven
- 1tp4h to Pembroke Dock
- 1tp2h to Llandovery; 1tp4h to Shrewsbury (Passengers can change at Llanelli for a connection to Pembroke/Fishguard that comes off the District line)
- 1tph to Cheltenham Spa (all stations Swansea - Bridgend)

So in short, the basic service pattern would be:
1tp2h Cardiff to Holyhead (Class 175)
1tph Carmarthen - Manchester Piccadilly (1tp2h to/from Milford Haven) (Class 175)
1tph Swansea - Cheltenham Spa (Swanline service) (Class 150)
1tph Maesteg - Abergavenny (Class 150 or 14x in meantime)
2tph Ebbw Vale branch, alternating between Cardiff and Newport (Class 150 or 14x)
1tp2h Pembroke Dock - Llanelli alternating between Swansea and Cardiff via District (Whatever stock is available)
1tp4h Fishguard Harbour - Cardiff via District line (Whatever stock is available)
1tp2h Swansea - Llandovery with 1tp4h doing the full line (Class 150 or 153)
1tp2h Shrewsbury - Llandrindod with 1tp4h doing the full run to Swansea (Class 150 or 153)
1tp2h Hereford - Bristol Temple Meads avoiding Newport (possibly GWR?) (Class 16x?)
1tph Aberystwyth & 1tp2h ex Pwllheli joining at Machynlleth to Shrewsbury alternating between Birmingham Intl (4 cars) and all stops to Crewe (2 cars) (Class 158)
1tp2h semi fast Shrewsbury - Chester via Crewe (Class 150)
1tp2h Birmingham International to Holyhead via Stafford, & Chester via Shrewsbury splitting at Wolverhampton (Class 158)
1tph Manchester Airport to Llandudno (Loco hauled/150/153/158/175)
1tp2h Llandudno to Blaenau Ffestiniog (Class 150)
1tp2h Llandudno to Holyhead all stations (Class 150)
3tp2h Wrexham Central to Bidston (one every 45 mins)

At peak times & late evening, I'd still support some of the faster trains stopping at more stations. Virgin Trains and GWR would still operate to Bangor/Holyhead and Swansea/Carmarthen but I've only included Welsh franchise services.

But other services I'd like to see:

1tph Maesteg - Bridgend shuttle (to work with Maesteg - Abergavenny) giving the line 2tph.
1tph (at least) Chester to Liverpool Lime Street
Summer extras between Machynlleth and Barmouth or Harlech
Summer extras between Chester and Llandudno Junction
2tph to Bridgend via Rhoose and 2tph to Barry Island
Further reopenings on the Valleys i.e. Abertillery; Hirwaun etc
--
Class 185s on some routes would be fine.
I'd also like to see progress towards reopening the line North of Carmarthen.
The ePacer operating the Cardiff Bay shuttles.

 

[Gareth Marston]

Aiming for Birmingham from Wrexham today, I found myself on the Llandudno-Cardiff as far as Shrewsbury.
ATW pulled out all the stops and provided a 150 for the 200-mile run.
It was sparsely occupied, but picked up steadily to Shrewsbury, where 90% of the passengers got off and headed to the Birmingham connection.
The Cardiff train is so important it is non-stop Shrewsbury-Newport, complete with catering trolley.
I know it's the post-Christmas lull, but you have to wonder at the business case for hourly North-South Wales services (as well as hourly Manchester-S Wales).
The Birmingham connection at Shrewsbury comes from Aberystwyth, but splits with one unit going to Holyhead.
That left a single 158 to run to Birmingham and back, sardine-like.
Something not quite right in all that.

AtW long distance copes if all their units are available and there's no major event on. It creaks at the seams a bit on Friday evenings and other times and some people stand longer than they should. bUT as soon as there's just a couple of units out.......

The run into BHM INTL should have been a six car at 0733 which forms the 0909 INTL to Holyhead only the front two go forward to Holyhead at Shrewsbury with the back 4 going back to INTL. this then forms the 1209 to AYW and PWL. It was still 2 car coming through Newtown just after 1400.

 

[B&I]

In terms of linking anywhere from south of Shrewsbury to Liverpool its a slower way to go than via Crewe however it would be a lot more popular destination and generate a lot more through traffic than Holyhead.

I can never work out why that is - if the redoubling between Chester and Wrexham had been done properly, would it be faster?

While faster services are always better, the advantage of going via Wrexham would be more links between Liverpool (and, in this case, its airport as well) and relatively close, but (in public transport terms) poorly-connected places. Would even a fairly swift service via the Marches be much quicker than changing at New Street ? Crewe is one of the few places Liverpool does currently have good links to.