94-621: The Borderlands line ( Welsh : Llinell y Gororau or Lein y Gororau ), also known as the Bidston–Wrexham or Wrexham–Bidston line, is a railway line between Bidston on the Wirral Peninsula in England and Wrexham Central in the north-east of Wales. Passenger train services are part of the Wales & Borders franchise and are operated by Transport for Wales Rail . The line connects to
188-546: A Memorandum of Understanding with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to work collaboratively to increase connectivity between the two regions. The line is traditionally operated with Class 150 DMUs . Bi-modal battery electric diesel Class 230s for Transport for Wales entered passenger service on the line on 3 April 2023. They were originally set to enter service in May 2022 in conjunction with
282-441: A Welsh Language Scheme, which indicates its commitment to the equality of treatment principle. This is sent out in draft form for public consultation for a three-month period, whereupon comments on it may be incorporated into a final version. It requires the final approval of the now defunct Welsh Language Board ( Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg ). Thereafter, the public body is charged with implementing and fulfilling its obligations under
376-586: A Welsh-language edge inscription was used on pound coins dated 1985, 1990 and 1995, which circulated in all parts of the UK prior to their 2017 withdrawal. The wording is Pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad (Welsh for 'True am I to my country'), and derives from the national anthem of Wales, " Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ". UK banknotes are in English only. Some shops employ bilingual signage. Welsh sometimes appears on product packaging or instructions. The UK government has ratified
470-597: A census glossary of terms to support the release of results from the census, including their definition of "main language" as referring to "first or preferred language" (though that wording was not in the census questionnaire itself). The wards in England with the most people giving Welsh as their main language were the Liverpool wards of Central and Greenbank ; and Oswestry South in Shropshire . The wards of Oswestry South (1.15%), Oswestry East (0.86%) and St Oswald (0.71%) had
564-549: A direct service to Liverpool . In June 2018 it was announced that, as part of the new KeolisAmey franchise to operate the Wales and Borders rail service, the frequency of trains on the line would increase to 2tph from December 2021. However, in September 2021, this was delayed to May 2022. In May 2022, the planned timetable with the increased service was revised with the additional services removed, therefore any increase in frequency
658-481: A mid-2019, then a December 2019 introduction, the trains were delivered by Vivarail to Transport for Wales in July 2020. The trains were later passed for passenger use for a 2020 introduction, but delayed initially to May 2022. In July 2021, one unit caught fire near Wrexham Central. In April 2022, Transport for Wales stated it continued to aim for a May 2022 introduction, but by mid-May, no Class 230 trains were introduced and
752-461: A pause in training meant staff would have to re-do training. A social media interaction on Twitter resulted in Transport for Wales' Twitter manager stating that the trains are set to be introduced "in the next year" (2023). Deeside.com and Wrexham.com, local news websites, stated there is speculation that Transport for Wales have bought or leased Class 150s from another train operating company for
846-735: A possible increase in service frequency. On 24 May 2022, Class 197s were tested on the line, despite being initially excluded. On 1 July 2022, TfW announced that the Class 197s would be used on the line. The long-delayed 230s had its staff training suspended following a battery-related incident in April 2022, TfW stated they had targeted a late 2022 introduction as they aimed to restart the 230s' staff training programme in August 2022. It had been proposed to use trains that receive energy from batteries and an electric pick-up on both unelectrified and electrified sections of
940-524: 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 operated all passenger services on the line until October 2018. KeolisAmey Wales (trading as Transport for Wales) then began its franchise until February 2021, when publicly-owned Transport for Wales Rail took over. Potential electrification plans could see
1034-479: A single discourse (known in linguistics as code-switching ). Welsh speakers are largely concentrated in the north and west of Wales, principally Gwynedd , Conwy County Borough , Denbighshire , Anglesey , Carmarthenshire , north Pembrokeshire , Ceredigion , parts of Glamorgan , and north-west and extreme south-west Powys . However, first-language and other fluent speakers can be found throughout Wales. Welsh-speaking communities persisted well into
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#17328490956941128-948: Is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people . Welsh is spoken natively in Wales , by some in England , and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province , Argentina ). It is spoken by smaller numbers of people in Canada and the United States descended from Welsh immigrants, within their households (especially in Nova Scotia ). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave
1222-563: Is a railway station on the eastern edge of the town of Heswall on the Wirral Peninsula in England . It is on the Borderlands Line . The station and all trains serving it are operated by Transport for Wales . In 2008 the station was refurbished. The station was previously known as Heswall Hills , as there was previously another station serving Heswall , on the Birkenhead Railway 's branch line from West Kirby to Hooton , that
1316-569: Is available throughout Europe on satellite and online throughout the UK. Since the digital switchover was completed in South Wales on 31 March 2010, S4C Digidol became the main broadcasting channel and fully in Welsh. The main evening television news provided by the BBC in Welsh is available for download. There is also a Welsh-language radio station, BBC Radio Cymru , which was launched in 1977. Heswall railway station Heswall railway station
1410-667: Is considered to have lasted from then until the 14th century, when the Modern Welsh period began, which in turn is divided into Early and Late Modern Welsh. The word Welsh is a descendant, via Old English wealh, wielisc , of the Proto-Germanic word * Walhaz , which was derived from the name of the Celtic people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer to speakers of Celtic languages, and then indiscriminately to
1504-661: Is now a footpath known as the Wirral Way . The railway line between Bidston and Hawarden Bridge was authorised on 31 July 1885, and was originally to be a line jointly owned by the Wirral Railway (WR) and the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway (WMCQ), but in 1889 the WR share was transferred to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR). Construction began in 1892;
1598-505: Is the label attached to the Welsh of the 12th to 14th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This is the language of nearly all surviving early manuscripts of the Mabinogion , although the tales themselves are certainly much older. It is also the language of the existing Welsh law manuscripts. Middle Welsh is reasonably intelligible to a modern-day Welsh speaker. The Bible translations into Welsh helped maintain
1692-704: The Cynfeirdd or "Early Poets" – is generally considered to date to the Primitive Welsh period. However, much of this poetry was supposedly composed in the Hen Ogledd , raising further questions about the dating of the material and language in which it was originally composed. This discretion stems from the fact that Cumbric was widely believed to have been the language used in Hen Ogledd. An 8th-century inscription in Tywyn shows
1786-494: The 2016 Australian census , 1,688 people noted that they spoke Welsh. In the 2011 Canadian census , 3,885 people reported Welsh as their first language . According to the 2021 Canadian census , 1,130 people noted that Welsh was their mother tongue. The 2018 New Zealand census noted that 1,083 people in New Zealand spoke Welsh. The American Community Survey 2009–2013 noted that 2,235 people aged five years and over in
1880-461: The 2021 census , 7,349 people in England recorded Welsh to be their "main language". In the 2011 census, 1,189 people aged three and over in Scotland noted that Welsh was a language (other than English) that they used at home. It is believed that there are as many as 5,000 speakers of Patagonian Welsh . In response to the question 'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?' in
1974-525: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Welsh. The language has greatly increased its prominence since the creation of the television channel S4C in November 1982, which until digital switchover in 2010 broadcast 70 per cent of Channel 4's programming along with a majority of Welsh language shows during peak viewing hours. The all-Welsh-language digital station S4C Digidol
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#17328490956942068-632: The Merseyrail network at Bidston, the North Wales Coast Line at Shotton and the Shrewsbury–Chester line at Wrexham General . Parts of the line in Wales are used by freight trains, serving Deeside Industrial Park and the Hanson Cement works to the south of Buckley . The line is part of Transport for Wales' North Wales Metro improvement programme and is also referred to in England as
2162-557: The Mid Wirral line , as part of the line runs in the middle of the Wirral peninsula. The line is operated by the Class 230 and the Class 197 . There have been various proposals for the line to be fully or partially integrated with the electrified Merseyrail network to increase services towards Liverpool. Past proposals for electrification on the line were deemed unfeasible due to costs. The potential introduction of Merseyrail's Class 777 on
2256-727: The Polish name for Italians) have a similar etymology. The Welsh term for the language, Cymraeg , descends from the Brythonic word combrogi , meaning 'compatriots' or 'fellow countrymen'. Welsh evolved from Common Brittonic , the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Celtic Britons . Classified as Insular Celtic , the British language probably arrived in Britain during the Bronze Age or Iron Age and
2350-618: The United States spoke Welsh at home. The highest number of those (255) lived in Florida . Sources: Calls for the Welsh language to be granted official status grew with the establishment of the nationalist political party Plaid Cymru in 1925, the establishment of the Welsh Language Society in 1962 and the rise of Welsh nationalism in the later 20th century. Of the six living Celtic languages (including two revived), Welsh has
2444-525: The "hugely important role", adding, "I look forward to working with the Welsh Government and organisations in Wales in developing the new system of standards. I will look to build on the good work that has been done by the Welsh Language Board and others to strengthen the Welsh language and ensure that it continues to thrive." First Minister Carwyn Jones said that Huws would act as a champion for
2538-589: The 1880s identified a small part of Shropshire as still then speaking Welsh, with the "Celtic Border" passing from Llanymynech through Oswestry to Chirk . The number of Welsh-speaking people in the rest of Britain has not yet been counted for statistical purposes. In 1993, the Welsh-language television channel S4C published the results of a survey into the numbers of people who spoke or understood Welsh, which estimated that there were around 133,000 Welsh-speaking people living in England, about 50,000 of them in
2632-510: 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. Further south, the high level platforms of Hope Exchange closed in 1958. The northern terminal of the Borderlands Line has been at four stations at various times: Bidston, Birkenhead North , Birkenhead Park (briefly in
2726-522: The 1993 Act nor secondary legislation made under it covers the private sector, although some organisations, notably banks and some railway companies, provide some of their information in Welsh. On 7 December 2010, the Welsh Assembly unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales. On 9 February 2011 this measure, the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 ,
2820-481: The Assembly which confirms the official status of the Welsh language; which creates a strong advocate for Welsh speakers and will improve the quality and quantity of services available through the medium of Welsh. I believe that everyone who wants to access services in the Welsh language should be able to do so, and that is what this government has worked towards. This legislation is an important and historic step forward for
2914-539: The Greater London area. The Welsh Language Board , on the basis of an analysis of the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study, estimated there were 110,000 Welsh-speaking people in England, and another thousand in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the 2011 census , 8,248 people in England gave Welsh in answer to the question "What is your main language?" The Office for National Statistics subsequently published
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3008-498: The May to December 2022 timetable, the frequency remained at mainly 1tph, with all but the first morning and last evening service on weekdays, and two morning and two evening services on Sundays, stopping at Wrexham Central. There are three interchange stations on the line, connecting to other railway lines and services. They are (north to south): Holders of the Transport for Wales Concessionary Travel Pass can travel free along part of
3102-489: The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, all new signs have Welsh displayed first. There have been incidents of one of the languages being vandalised, which may be considered a hate crime . Since 2000, the teaching of Welsh has been compulsory in all schools in Wales up to age 16; this has had an effect in stabilising and reversing the decline in the language. Text on UK coins tends to be in English and Latin. However,
3196-673: The Welsh Language Scheme. The list of other public bodies which have to prepare Schemes could be added to by initially the Secretary of State for Wales, from 1993 to 1997, by way of statutory instrument . Subsequent to the forming of the National Assembly for Wales in 1997, the Government Minister responsible for the Welsh language can and has passed statutory instruments naming public bodies who have to prepare Schemes. Neither
3290-641: The Welsh language official status in Wales. Welsh and English are de jure official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd , with Welsh being the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom, with English being merely de facto official. According to the 2021 census , the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 538,300 (17.8%) and nearly three quarters of
3384-515: The Welsh language, though some had concerns over her appointment: Plaid Cymru spokeswoman Bethan Jenkins said, "I have concerns about the transition from Meri Huws's role from the Welsh Language Board to the language commissioner, and I will be asking the Welsh government how this will be successfully managed. We must be sure that there is no conflict of interest, and that the Welsh Language Commissioner can demonstrate how she will offer
3478-481: The Welsh of the 16th century, but they are similar enough for a fluent Welsh speaker to have little trouble understanding it. During the Modern Welsh period, there has been a decline in the popularity of the Welsh language: the number of Welsh speakers declined to the point at which there was concern that the language would become extinct. During industrialisation in the late 19th century, immigrants from England led to
3572-606: The Welsh-speaking heartlands, with the number dropping to under 50 per cent in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire for the first time. However, according to the Welsh Language Use Survey in 2019–20, 22 per cent of people aged three and over were able to speak Welsh. The Annual Population Survey (APS) by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that as of March 2024, approximately 862,700, or 28.0 per cent of
3666-509: The additional £1.2 billion funding Wales was receiving would be used to look into proposals to improve journey times on the line and developing a business case. In October 2019, Transport for Wales announced £280,000 had been allocated to revamp stations along the line in north Wales, Cheshire and Merseyside, as part of TfW's £194 million station improvement programme. New stations at Deeside Industrial Park (to be called Deeside Parkway ), Woodchurch and Beechwood have been proposed. The route
3760-581: The awarding of access rights to TfW. Local councillors in Wrexham and the Wrexham-Bidston Rail Users' Association voiced concerns that the conflicting applications could jeopardise the planned increase in frequency to 2tph. On 30 November 2022, the ORR approved TfW's 2tph passenger service increase. The southern part of the line was built by the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway (WMCQR) in 1864 and
3854-456: The census. In terms of usage, ONS also reported that 14.4 per cent (443,800) of people aged three or older in Wales reported that they spoke Welsh daily in March 2024, with 5.4 per cent (165,500) speaking it weekly and 6.5 per cent (201,200) less often. Approximately 1.7 per cent (51,700) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak the language, with the remaining 72.0 per cent of
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3948-414: The course of the 20th century this monolingual population all but disappeared, but a small percentage remained at the time of the 1981 census. Most Welsh-speaking people in Wales also speak English. However, many Welsh-speaking people are more comfortable expressing themselves in Welsh than in English. A speaker's choice of language can vary according to the subject domain and the social context, even within
4042-489: The creation of Old Welsh, Davies suggests it may be more appropriate to refer to this derivative language as Lingua Britannica rather than characterising it as a new language altogether. The argued dates for the period of "Primitive Welsh" are widely debated, with some historians' suggestions differing by hundreds of years. The next main period is Old Welsh ( Hen Gymraeg , 9th to 11th centuries); poetry from both Wales and Scotland has been preserved in this form of
4136-470: The decline in Welsh speakers particularly in the South Wales Valleys. Welsh government processes and legislation have worked to increase the proliferation of the Welsh language, for example through education. Welsh has been spoken continuously in Wales throughout history; however, by 1911, it had become a minority language, spoken by 43.5 per cent of the population. While this decline continued over
4230-468: The extra services planned to use Class 230s were later removed from the May 2022 timetable. Transport for Wales states that earlier delays to the introduction of the new trains were due to (aside the COVID-19 pandemic) "technical issues" such as fires on some of the tested trains and battery-related issues (such as a battery-related "thermal" issue in April 2022) impacting staff training, with the sheer length of
4324-459: The facilities at the "fairly basic" stations on the line. GB Railfreight (GBRf) operate freight trains to Hanson Cement near Penyffordd . GBRf formally objected to the increase in passenger train services on the line as it would conflict with the freight operator's new daytime freight traffic to and from Padeswood . The operator claimed that the new freight service would block the northbound line between Penyffordd and Buckley for 30 minutes due to
4418-474: The final steam-hauled iron ore train in November 1967. The freight service itself ended around 1980. Proposals have been put forward to electrify the track as part of the Borderlands Electrification scheme. Merseyrail would like to see the line electrified to link with its own third-rail service, with a doubling of the frequency of services. This would allow the station to serve as a part of
4512-485: The following decades, the language did not die out. The smallest number of speakers was recorded in 1981 with 503,000 although the lowest percentage was recorded in the most recent census in 2021 at 17.8 per cent. By the start of the 21st century, numbers began to increase once more, at least partly as a result of the increase in Welsh-medium education . The 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey showed that 21.7 per cent of
4606-619: The full incorporation of the line into the electrified Merseyrail network, allowing for services from either Wrexham Central or partway along the line to travel all the way to Birkenhead and Liverpool Central. In 2008, a Network Rail study estimated the cost for third-rail electrification of the entire line to be £207 million. To lower costs, Merseytravel suggested overhead-wire electrification as an alternative, bringing estimates down to £66 million. However, this would mean trains running between Wrexham and Liverpool would have to be compatible with both electric systems, therefore incompatible with
4700-463: The highest number of native speakers who use the language on a daily basis, and it is the Celtic language which is considered the least endangered by UNESCO . The Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998 provide that the Welsh and English languages be treated equally in the public sector, as far as is reasonable and practicable. Each public body is required to prepare for approval
4794-469: The highest percentage of residents giving Welsh as their main language. The census also revealed that 3,528 wards in England, or 46% of the total number, contained at least one resident whose main language is Welsh. In terms of the regions of England , North West England (1,945), London (1,310) and the West Midlands (1,265) had the highest number of people noting Welsh as their main language. According to
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#17328490956944888-451: The history of Welsh, with rather indistinct boundaries: Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. The period immediately following the language's emergence is sometimes referred to as Primitive Welsh, followed by the Old Welsh period – which is generally considered to stretch from the beginning of the 9th century to sometime during the 12th century. The Middle Welsh period
4982-505: The introduction of battery powered trains was proposed for the Borderlands line by Network Rail. The Network Rail document suggested that consideration had been given to electrification and to extending the terminus from Bidston further into Birkenhead for greater connectivity. However these options were expressed as offering low value for money. The document proposes that using battery powered rolling stock precluding full electrification of
5076-527: The language already dropping inflections in the declension of nouns. Janet Davies proposed that the origins of the Welsh language were much less definite; in The Welsh Language: A History , she proposes that Welsh may have been around even earlier than 600 AD. This is evidenced by the dropping of final syllables from Brittonic: * bardos 'poet' became bardd , and * abona 'river' became afon . Though both Davies and Jackson cite minor changes in syllable structure and sounds as evidence for
5170-431: The language, its speakers and for the nation." The measure was not welcomed warmly by all supporters: Bethan Williams, chairman of the Welsh Language Society, gave a mixed response to the move, saying, "Through this measure we have won official status for the language and that has been warmly welcomed. But there was a core principle missing in the law passed by the Assembly before Christmas. It doesn't give language rights to
5264-449: The language. As Germanic and Gaelic colonisation of Britain proceeded, the Brittonic speakers in Wales were split off from those in northern England, speaking Cumbric, and those in the southwest, speaking what would become Cornish , so the languages diverged. Both the works of Aneirin ( Canu Aneirin , c. 600 ) and the Book of Taliesin ( Canu Taliesin ) were written during this era. Middle Welsh ( Cymraeg Canol )
5358-412: The late 60s), New Brighton and Seacombe . The doubling of the journey frequency on the line is one of the aims of the Growth Track 360 group, a consortium of business, politicians and public sector leaders. The group aims to improve transport and create jobs in the North Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire area over the next 20 years. In the 2017 Autumn budget, Chancellor Philip Hammond stated that part of
5452-543: The line could expand services on the line into Liverpool. The line is used by freight trains at its southern end in Wales, serving Deeside Industrial Park and the Hanson Cement works south of Buckley . Amongst the biggest users of freight was the Shotton steelworks which received imported iron ore from Birkenhead's Bidston Dock , until the closure of the steelworks in 1980. Upon privatisation , passenger services were transferred from Regional Railways to North West Trains , later known as First North Western. In 2003,
5546-430: The line on the Wirral Peninsula in particular, as well as the rest of the line. In 2016, a working group was set up to examine improving the line, including proposals to increase the frequency of trains on the line. It was hoped that an increase in the number of passengers would improve the case for electrification. In 2017, Merseyside councillor Liam Robinson stated that passenger use on the line had increased 75% over
5640-550: The line transfer to Merseyrail . Transport for Wales is currently the only passenger train operator on the line. There are proposals for Merseyrail to fully or partly operate on the line. In their December 2021 to May 2022 timetable, Transport for Wales operated 1 train per hour (tph) Monday to Saturday, and on Sundays services were mainly hourly with some every 1 hour and 30 minutes. Not all services terminated at Wrexham Central; some terminated at Wrexham General to enable cab cleaning, service turnaround time, or recovering delays. In
5734-431: The line was wholly owned by the GCR, and so became part of the London and North Eastern Railway on 1 January 1923. Heswall Hills station was renamed Heswall on 7 May 1973. The station had an extensive goods yard with sidings to the south-west of the station, where daily shunting operations were carried out until the advent of diesel railcar operations in 1960, at which time light freight operations ceased. Although,
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#17328490956945828-417: The line went through several changes of name, and by the time of its opening (goods 16 March 1896, passengers 18 May), was known as the North Wales and Liverpool Joint Railway . A station known as Heswall Hills was opened two years later, on 1 May 1898. The MS&LR in due course became the Great Central Railway (GCR), which absorbed the WMCQ on 1 January 1905, so that by the time of the 1923 Grouping
5922-409: The line when they first entered testing in late 2021, with Transport for Wales stating, at the time, that the 230s would be the line's main rolling stock. The Class 197s were spotted being tested on the line in May 2022, after the initial deadline for the 230s' May introduction had passed when the May–December 2022 timetable commenced. The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority announced that trials of
6016-597: The line, from Wrexham Central to Hawarden Bridge . Holders of the Merseytravel Concessionary Travel Pass can travel free along the section of the line that runs through Merseyside, from Heswall to Bidston. In December 2021, more than 500 people signed a Change.org petition calling for a direct service between Heswall and Liverpool. The line is designated as a community rail partnership. In Spring 2023, some services were suspended after Transport for Wales transferred trains to other parts of their network. In June 2023, Transport for Wales committed to improve services on
6110-471: The line, provides a cheaper method of increasing connectivity and extending the service into the electrified Birkenhead and Liverpool sections of the Wirral line. From the document: It was announced in June 2018 that refurbished Class 230 trains, which use former London Underground D78 Stock train bogies and aluminium bodyshells with battery power plants and a diesel engine as a failsafe, were to be introduced between Wrexham and Bidston. Initially hoped for
6204-420: The line, with Lee Waters , Welsh minister responsible for transport, apologising for the issues. Class 230s were introduced in April 2023, although they were not running on-time and experiencing "teething" problems. It was initially proposed in 2018, that Transport for Wales would double the line's frequency to 2tph, starting from December 2021, using the newly-introduced Class 230 trains. In September 2021, this
6298-409: The line. There are aspirations to extend services from Bidston onto the Merseyrail Wirral Line taking trains into the Birkenhead and Liverpool underground sections. On 1 July 2022, Transport for Wales announced that the Class 197s would be operating on the line when they are eventually introduced to the wider Wales and Borders rail network . The class were not initially announced to be operating on
6392-468: The modern period across the border in England. Archenfield was still Welsh enough in the time of Elizabeth I for the Bishop of Hereford to be made responsible, together with the four Welsh bishops, for the translation of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer into Welsh. Welsh was still commonly spoken there in the first half of the 19th century, and churchwardens' notices were put up in both Welsh and English until about 1860. Alexander John Ellis in
6486-399: The northern part by the North Wales and Liverpool Railway , a joint committee of the WMCQR and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in 1896. The North Wales and Liverpool Railway northern terminus was at Bidston with the southern terminus at Hawarden Bridge Both railways were acquired by the Great Central Railway on 1 January 1905. Two Wirral stations on the line closed in
6580-448: The number of Welsh-language speakers to one million by 2050. Since 1980, the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools has increased, while the number going to Welsh bilingual and dual-medium schools has decreased. Welsh is considered the least endangered Celtic language by UNESCO . The language of the Welsh developed from the language of Britons . The emergence of Welsh was not instantaneous and clearly identifiable. Instead,
6674-402: The people of Wales in every aspect of their lives. Despite that, an amendment to that effect was supported by 18 Assembly Members from three different parties, and that was a significant step forward." On 5 October 2011, Meri Huws , Chair of the Welsh Language Board , was appointed the new Welsh Language Commissioner. She released a statement that she was "delighted" to have been appointed to
6768-534: The people of the Western Roman Empire . In Old English the term went through semantic narrowing , coming to refer to either Britons in particular or, in some contexts, slaves. The plural form Wēalas evolved into the name for their territory, Wales. The modern names for various Romance-speaking people in Continental Europe (e.g. Walloons , Valaisans , Vlachs / Wallachians , and Włosi ,
6862-447: The planned increase in services on the line. The trains were scheduled to start operating on the line in May 2022, however, on 24 May 2022, the new Class 197s were spotted for compatibility testing on the line. Class 197s were not announced to be on the Borderlands line prior to the missed May 2022 introduction of the Class 230s. Class 197s were intended to only run long-distance services on
6956-436: The population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 862,700 people (28.0%) aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in March 2024. Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent, while 20 per cent are able to speak a fair amount. 56 per cent of Welsh speakers speak the language daily, and 19 per cent speak the language weekly. The Welsh Government plans to increase
7050-471: The population not being able to speak it. The National Survey for Wales, conducted by Welsh Government, has also tended to report a higher percentage of Welsh speakers than the census, with the most recent results for 2022–2023 suggesting that 18 per cent of the population aged 3 and over were able to speak Welsh, with an additional 16 per cent noting that they had some Welsh-speaking ability. Historically, large numbers of Welsh people spoke only Welsh. Over
7144-502: The population of Wales aged 3 and over, were able to speak the language. Children and young people aged three to 15 years old were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh than any other age group (48.4 per cent, 241,300). Around 1,001,500 people, or 32.5 per cent, reported that they could understand spoken Welsh. 24.7 per cent (759,200) could read and 22.2 per cent (684,500) could write in Welsh. The APS estimates of Welsh language ability are historically higher than those produced by
7238-407: The population of Wales spoke Welsh, compared with 20.8 per cent in the 2001 census , and 18.5 per cent in the 1991 census . Since 2001, however, the number of Welsh speakers has declined in both the 2011 and 2021 censuses to about 538,300 or 17.8 per cent in 2021, lower than 1991, although it is still higher in absolute terms. The 2011 census also showed a "big drop" in the number of speakers in
7332-498: The previous decade but electrification was still a long-term aspiration. He also stated that the new Class 777 rolling stock, which can operate on overhead wires, third rail or batteries was being procured for Merseyrail, and could run on the line. The Class 777 trains could extend the line into the Liverpool and Birkenhead tunnels and stations. Welsh Government minister, Lee Waters , revealed in April 2023 that Transport for Wales have
7426-409: The required fresh approach to this new role." Huws started her role as the Welsh Language Commissioner on 1 April 2012. Local councils and the Senedd use Welsh, issuing Welsh versions of their literature, to varying degrees. Road signs in Wales are in Welsh and English. Prior to 2016, the choice of which language to display first was the responsibility of the local council. Since then, as part of
7520-440: The seven battery electric multiple unit (BEMU) versions of their new Class 777 had shown that they were capable of travelling up to 20 miles (32 km) between charges. Further trials by Stadler reached a range of 84 miles (135 km). This would allow the line to be served without full electrification. Welsh language Welsh ( Cymraeg [kəmˈraːiɡ] or y Gymraeg [ə ɡəmˈraːiɡ] )
7614-627: The shift occurred over a long period, with some historians claiming that it had happened by as late as the 9th century , with a watershed moment being that proposed by linguist Kenneth H. Jackson , the Battle of Dyrham , a military battle between the West Saxons and the Britons in 577 AD, which split the South Western British from direct overland contact with the Welsh. Four periods are identified in
7708-483: The splitting of trains into and out of the short sidings . Both TfW and GBRf have applied to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) for use of capacity on the line. Transport for Wales Rail was seeking additional rights to operate a 2tph service on the line. Analysis by Network Rail taken in June 2020 concluded that a 2tph service could not be operated regularly in conjunction with freight services, therefore they would not support
7802-555: The third-rail only trains in use at the time. There is political support to electrify the line from both Welsh and Merseyside authorities, but the responsibility of rail infrastructure lies with the UK Government 's Department for Transport . The Welsh Government aims to increase services between North Wales and Merseyside, in particular Wrexham and Deeside with Liverpool and Liverpool John Lennon Airport . Whereas Merseyside authorities would like to increase services to stations on
7896-590: The track. This would reduce the need for full line electrification. A trial of a converted Electrostar train using energy from overhead wires and batteries when on non-electrified sections of track was undertaken in January and February 2015 on the Mayflower line . The train travelled up to 60 miles on energy stored in the batteries also recharging the batteries via the overhead wires when on electrified track, at stations and via brake regeneration. A month later in March 2015,
7990-403: The trains by June 2023, were still not running to their timetabled times, experiencing "minor technical issues" and "teething" problems. This was later stated to be due to pollen blocking engine filters. Following the issues with the services, Mark Isherwood , North Wales MS, had called for an operator other than Transport for Wales to operate the line, criticising TfW's management of services on
8084-518: The use of Welsh in daily life, and standardised spelling. The New Testament was translated by William Salesbury in 1567, and the complete Bible by William Morgan in 1588. Modern Welsh is subdivided into Early Modern Welsh and Late Modern Welsh. Early Modern Welsh ran from the 15th century through to the end of the 16th century, and the Late Modern Welsh period roughly dates from the 16th century onwards. Contemporary Welsh differs greatly from
8178-511: The whole Wales & Borders network, which the Borderlands line does not interact with. On 4 July 2022, TfW admitted battery-related "thermal issues" were the cause of the train's delayed introduction. TfW stated they have largely rectified the problem. The pausing of the staff training programme for a prolonged period of time, due to the incident, has led to staff being required to redo training. The class 230 trains were introduced in fare paying service in April 2023. Following their introduction,
8272-654: The yard was still used until 30 October 1965. The goods yard and sidings were sold off for housing development in about 1967. However, the line continued to be used for heavy freight, as iron ore freight trains also passed through the station. These freight trains operated from Bidston Dock to the John Summers steelworks in Shotton . The steam locomotives could be heard at night for at least five miles climbing Storeton Bank, from Upton station to Heswall. The Class 9F locomotive 92203 , later named as Black Prince , worked
8366-608: Was complete by around AD 550, and labelled the period between then and about AD 800 "Primitive Welsh". This Primitive Welsh may have been spoken in both Wales and the Hen Ogledd ('Old North') – the Brittonic-speaking areas of what are now northern England and southern Scotland – and therefore may have been the ancestor of Cumbric as well as Welsh. Jackson, however, believed that the two varieties were already distinct by that time. The earliest Welsh poetry – that attributed to
8460-587: Was delayed to May 2022. In May 2022, the planned timetable with the increased service was revised with the additional services removed, therefore any increase in frequency was scrapped for May 2022 and servuces remained largely unchanged from the existing timetable at roughly 1tph until December 2022. In March 2021, Transport for Wales pledged to Flintshire councillors that the line's services would increase to 4tph and extend into Liverpool. The line's ageing track and signalling would also be replaced to allow for faster and more frequent trains. TfW also pledged to upgrade
8554-566: Was mentioned in Merseytravel's proposed 30-year plan of 2014. The draft of the Network Rail Welsh Route Study in March 2015 contained several suggestions for improving services on the line, including:. There have been proposals for the full or partial electrification of the line since 1999 with participation of Merseytravel and the devolved institutions in Wales . Such electrification is usually intertwined with proposals for
8648-518: Was passed and received Royal Assent, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales. The measure: The measure required public bodies and some private companies to provide services in Welsh. The Welsh government's Minister for Heritage at the time, Alun Ffred Jones , said, "The Welsh language is a source of great pride for the people of Wales, whether they speak it or not, and I am delighted that this measure has now become law. I am very proud to have steered legislation through
8742-505: Was probably spoken throughout the island south of the Firth of Forth . During the Early Middle Ages the British language began to fragment due to increased dialect differentiation, thus evolving into Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. It is not clear when Welsh became distinct. Linguist Kenneth H. Jackson has suggested that the evolution in syllabic structure and sound pattern
8836-470: Was scrapped for May 2022, due to timetable conflict with freight services, as of May 2022 , the service frequency increase has not been approved by the Office of Rail and Road . The station facilities are somewhat rudimentary, and the station is unstaffed at nearly all times. Each of the two platforms has a waiting shelter with seating. There is a payphone , and live departure and arrival screens for passenger information, but no booking office . There
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