Editing Chester (section)

==Transport==
===Roads===
The city is a hub for major roads, including the [[M53 motorway]] towards the [[Wirral Peninsula]] and [[Liverpool]] and the [[M56 motorway]] towards [[Manchester]]. The [[A55 road]] runs along the North Wales coast to [[Holyhead]] and the [[A483 road|A483]] links the city to nearby [[Wrexham]] and [[Swansea]] in [[Wales]].

===Buses===
Bus transport in the city is provided by [[Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire]] and [[Arriva Buses Wales]]; the council-owned and operated [[ChesterBus]] (formerly Chester City Transport) was sold to [[First Chester & The Wirral]] in mid-2007. Services connect the city with Liverpool, Rhyl, Flint, Holywell, Ellesmere Port, Northwich and Whitchurch. A [[National Express]] route between London and Liverpool stops in Chester.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bustimes.org/localities/chester |website=bustimes.org |title=Chester bus services |access-date=15 December 2024}}</ref>

A new bus exchange was built in the city at Gorse Stacks and opened to its first services on 30 May 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.keybuses.com/article/chester-interchange-opens-business |title=Chester Interchange opens for business |website=Buses magazine |date=13 July 2017 |access-date=16 December 2024}}</ref>

Chester has four dedicated [[park and ride]] sites, three of them (Upton, Boughton Heath and Wrexham Road) along major roads surrounding the city.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/residents/transport-and-roads/public-transport/buses/park-and-ride |title=Park and ride |publisher=Chester and Cheshire West Council |access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref>

===Railways===
[[File:Sprinter units, Chester Railway Station (geograph 2986906).jpg|thumb|left|Two Northern Rail trains at Chester station]]

[[Chester railway station]] is served by four [[train operating companies]]:
* [[Avanti West Coast]] provides [[inter-city rail|inter-city]] services between [[Euston railway station|London Euston]], {{rws|Crewe}} and {{rws|Holyhead}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our latest timetable and ticket info |work=Avanti West Coast |date=15 December 2024 |access-date=15 December 2024 |url= https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/travel-information/plan-your-journey/timetables}}</ref>
* [[Merseyrail]] operates electric services on the [[Wirral Line]], on a circular route via {{rws|Liverpool Central}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Timetables |work=Merseyrail |date=12 October 2024 |access-date=15 December 2024 |url= https://www.merseyrail.org/journey-planning/plan-your-journey/timetables/}}</ref>
* [[Northern Trains]] provides a regular service to {{rws|Manchester Piccadilly}}, via {{rws|Northwich}} and {{rws|Stockport}}, on the [[Mid-Cheshire line]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Timetables and engineering information for travel with Northern |work=Northern Railway |date=15 December 2024 |access-date=15 December 2024 |url= https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/travel/timetables}}</ref>
* [[Transport for Wales Rail|Transport for Wales]] operates services on four routes:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Timetables |work=Transport for Wales |date=15 December 2024 |access-date=15 December 2024 |url=https://tfw.wales/service-status/timetables}}</ref>
** {{rws|Birmingham International}} to Holyhead, via {{rws|Wrexham General}}
** Manchester Piccadilly to {{rws|Llandudno}}, via the [[North Wales Main Line]]; some services continue to Holyhead
** {{rws|Liverpool Lime Street}}, via {{rws|Runcorn}}
** Crewe, via Beeston Castle.

====History====
The city formerly had two railway stations: Chester General remains in use (now named simply ''Chester''), but [[Chester Northgate railway station|Chester Northgate]] closed in 1969 as a result of the [[Beeching cuts]].{{refn|group=nb|[[Richard Beeching]]'s report ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' was published in 1965.}} Chester Northgate, which was north-east of the city centre, opened in 1875 as a [[Terminal station|terminus]] for the [[Cheshire Lines Committee]]. Trains travelled via Northwich to {{rws|Manchester Central}}; later, services also went to Seacombe (Wallasey) and [[Wrexham Central railway station|Wrexham Central]] via {{stnlnk|Shotton}}. It was demolished in the 1970s and the site is now part of the Northgate Arena leisure centre.

Chester General opened in 1848 and was designed with an [[Italianate]] frontage. It now has seven designated platforms but once had fourteen. The station lost its original roof in the 1972 [[Chester General rail crash]]. In September 2007, extensive renovations took place to improve pedestrian access and parking.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterrenaissance.co.uk/railands.htm |title=Chester Railway Renovation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821115005/http://www.chesterrenaissance.co.uk/railands.htm |archive-date=21 August 2008 |website=Chester Renaissance |access-date=11 April 2009}}</ref> Chester General also had a sizeable marshalling yard and a [[motive power depot]], most of which has now been replaced with housing.

[[File:Dee bridge disaster.jpg|thumb|Dee bridge disaster, May 1847]]
In late 1847, the [[Dee bridge disaster]] occurred when a bridge span collapsed as a train passed over the River Dee by the [[Roodee]]. Five people were killed in the accident. The bridge had been designed and built by famed railway engineer [[Robert Stephenson]] for the [[Chester and Holyhead Railway]]. A [[Royal Commission]] inquiry found that the [[truss]]es were made of cast iron beams that had inadequate strength for their purpose. A national scandal ensued and many new bridges of similar design were either taken down or heavily altered.

===Cycling===
There are a series of colour-coded signposted cycling routes around the city.

On 19 June 2008, then [[Secretary of State for Transport]] [[Ruth Kelly]] named Chester as a [[cycling demonstration town]].<ref name=CycleEngland>{{cite web |url=http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/cycling-cities-towns/ |title=CycleEngland |publisher=Cycle England |access-date=9 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519000604/http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/cycling-cities-towns/ |archive-date=19 May 2009 }}</ref> This initiative allowed for substantial financial support to improve cycling facilities and a number of schemes were planned.<ref name=CycleChester>{{cite web |url=http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/cycling/cyclechester.htm |title=CYCLEChester |publisher=CYCLEChester |access-date=9 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616042038/http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/cycling/cyclechester.htm |archive-date=16 June 2009 }}> Also:{{cite web |url=http://www.chestercyclecity.org/ |title=Chester Cycle City |publisher=Chester Cycle city |access-date=9 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606050411/http://www.chestercyclecity.org/ |archive-date=6 June 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Potential schemes included a new pedestrian and cycling bridge across the River Dee, linking the Meadows with [[Huntington, Cheshire|Huntington]] and [[Great Boughton]]; an access route between [[Curzon Park]] and the [[Roodee]]; an extension to the existing greenway route from [[Hoole]] to [[Guilden Sutton]] and [[Mickle Trafford]]; and an access route between the Millennium cycle route and Deva Link. However, following a reorganisation of the local authorities effective 1 April 2009, the Conservative-led administration of the newly established [[Cheshire West and Chester]] council was not supportive, so comparatively little was actually achieved.

Many of the ideas generated at the time were captured in a ''Cycle Chester Masterplan'' document.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.chestercyclecity.org/?p=682 |title=Cycle Chester Masterplan – A Cycle Friendly City Centre |website=Chester Cycling Campaign |access-date=12 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170413072753/http://www.chestercyclecity.org/?p=682 |archive-date=13 April 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Canals===
[[File:Chester - Bridge of Sighs.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Canal cutting by Chester city walls]]
The [[Chester Canal]] was constructed with locks leading down to the River Dee. Canal boats could enter the river at high tide to load goods directly onto seagoing vessels. The port facilities at Crane Wharf, by Chester racecourse, made an important contribution to the commercial development of the North West region. {{Citation needed|date=October 2008}}

[[File:Camlas ellesmere.png|thumb|upright|Map showing the proposed extensions of the Ellesmere Canal to Chester and Shrewsbury]]
The original Chester Canal was constructed to run from the River Dee near [[Sealand, Flintshire|Sealand Road]] to [[Nantwich]] in south Cheshire and opened in 1774. In 1805, the Wirral section of the [[Ellesmere Canal]] was opened, which ran from Netherpool (now known as [[Ellesmere Port]]) to meet the Chester Canal at Chester canal basin. Later, those two canal branches became part of the Shropshire Union Canal network. This canal, which runs beneath the northern section of the city walls of Chester, is navigable and remains in use today.

From about 1794 to the late 1950s, when the canal-side flour mills were closed, [[narrowboat]]s carried cargo such as coal, slate, gypsum or lead ore as well as finished lead (for roofing, water pipes and sewerage) from the leadworks in Egerton Street (Newtown). The grain from Cheshire was stored in granaries on the banks of the canal at Newtown and Boughton, and salt for preserving food arrived from [[Northwich]].

====Proposed canal====
The original plan to complete the Ellesmere Canal was to connect Chester directly to the Wrexham coalfields by building a [[Barge|broad-gauge waterway]] with a branch to the River Dee at [[Holt, Wales|Holt]]. If the waterway had been built, canal traffic would have crossed the [[Pontcysyllte Aqueduct]] heading north to Chester and the River Dee.

As the route was never completed, the short length of the canal north of [[Trevor Basin|Trevor]], near [[Wrexham]], was infilled. The [[Llangollen Canal]], although designed to be primarily a water source from the River Dee, became a cruising waterway despite its inherent narrow nature.

However, although Wrexham itself was bypassed, the plan to join the rivers [[River Severn|Severn]], Mersey, and Dee was completed, first by cutting the Wirral Arm from Chester to Ellesmere Port (Whitby wharf) and then by extending the Llangollen Arm via [[Ellesmere, Shropshire|Ellesmere]], [[Whitchurch, Shropshire|Whitchurch]] and Bettisfield Moss through to the [[Chester Canal]] at Hurleston. The network became the [[Shropshire Union Canal]].

===Trams===
Chester had a tram service during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It ran from Saltney, on the Welsh border in the west, to Chester General station and then to Tarvin Road and Great Boughton. It featured the narrowest gauge trams (3'&nbsp;6") in mainland Britain, due to an act of Parliament that deemed they must have the least obstructive route possible.{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}}

The tramway was established in 1871 by Chester Tramways Company. It was horse-drawn until it was taken over by the council in 1903. Renamed as [[Chester Corporation Tramways]], it was reconstructed to the 3'6" gauge and electrified with overhead cables. The tramway was closed in February 1930, a fate experienced by most other systems in the UK. All that remains are small areas of uncovered track inside the former bus depot, and a few tram-wire supports attached to buildings on Eastgate/Foregate Street. However, substantial sections of the track remain buried beneath the current road surface.

Chester electric tram number 4, built by [[G.F. Milnes & Co.]] in 1903, has been preserved by [[RAF Hooton Park|Hooton Park Trust]] and is currently undergoing restoration.<ref>{{Cite web |access-date=2 May 2022 |title=Chester's last surviving electric tram – Car No. 4 |url=https://www.facebook.com/chestertram4 | website=Facebook }}</ref>