North Wales Coast railway closure
Major engineering work will take place along the North Wales Coast railway between Saturday 9 January and Friday 5 February 2027. This will allow Network Rail to carry out more than £25 million of essential work along the North Wales Coast.
During this time, trains will be replaced by buses across the North Wales Coast and Conwy Valley lines. Journeys will take longer than usual, so please check before you travel and allow extra time for your journey.
When and where will the railway be closed?
Saturday 9 January to Friday 29 January
No trains will run:
- between Chester and Holyhead
- on the Conwy Valley line between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog
Rail replacement services will replace trains along these routes.
Transport for Wales Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham services will run to and from Chester.
Avanti West Coast will run an hourly train service between London Euston and Chester.
Saturday 30 January to Friday 5 February
No trains will run between Llandudno Junction and Holyhead, with rail replacement services in place.
Trains will run:
- between Chester and Llandudno Junction
- on the Conwy Valley line between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog
Transport for Wales Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham services will run to and from Llandudno Junction/Llandudno.
Avanti West Coast train services will run to and from Llandudno Junction.
Rail replacement services
Replacement buses are now showing in our journey planners on our website and app. By checking your journey in advance, you’ll be able to see which services and connections you need.
To find your rail replacement bus stop, search for your local station on our website. Its rail replacement bus stop location will be listed under ‘Transport Links’.
We’ll have a comprehensive rail replacement service in place to keep you moving while the railway is closed. Please remember to allow extra time, as journeys by replacement bus will take longer than travelling by train.
There will be two main types of rail replacement service:
- Faster, limited-stop coaches stopping at Chester, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Bangor and Holyhead only.
- Local replacement buses serving stations in between and connecting with the faster coaches at the key interchange stations listed above.
Limited stop services between Chester and Holyhead
Faster coaches will run every 30 minutes between Chester and Holyhead, calling at:
Chester - Colwyn Bay - Llandudno Junction - Bangor - Holyhead
The full journey will take around 2 hours 40 minutes.
On Sundays, these services will run every hour.
Local services calling at all stations
Local services will serve all other stations along the route:
Holyhead to Bangor
Stations: Valley, Rhosneigr, Ty Croes, Bodorgan and Llanfairpwll
A minibus will serve these stations every hour, connecting with the faster coaches at Holyhead and Bangor for onward journeys towards Chester.
On Sundays, these services will run every two hours.
If you’re travelling to or from Holyhead Port, we’re running our limited stop services every 30 minutes, alongside additional local services between Bangor and Holyhead running every hour. Please check your complete rail, bus and ferry journey before travelling and leave enough time to make your connection.
Bangor to Llandudno Junction
Stations: Llanfairfechan, Penmaenmawr and Conwy
A minibus will serve these stations every 30 minutes, connecting with faster coaches at Bangor and Llandudno Junction for onward journeys towards Holyhead or Chester.
On Sundays, these services will run every two hours.
Llandudno to Chester
Stations: Llandudno, Deganwy, Abergele & Pensarn, Rhyl, Prestatyn, Flint and Shotton
A coach will serve these stations every 30 minutes, connecting with faster coaches at Llandudno Junction, Colwyn Bay and Chester for onward journeys towards Bangor and Holyhead.
Conwy Valley line
Between 9 and 29 January, replacement buses will run between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog every 90 minutes from Mondays to Saturdays, stopping at all stations along the Conwy Valley line. On Sundays, services will run roughly every two hours.
This is more frequent than the normal rail service and will provide passengers with more opportunities to connect with onward services at Llandudno Junction.
The Conwy Valley line will reopen on 30 January, with train services running as normal.
Switching between limited stop and local buses for faster journeys
If you’re travelling between a station served by our local bus services, changing between a local bus and a faster coach may make your overall journey quicker.
Example journey: Bodorgan to Chester
- board the local minibus at Bodorgan at 09:53
- change at Bangor for the faster limited stop coach
- travel onwards calling at Llandudno Junction, Colwyn Bay and Chester
- arrive at Chester at 12:35
Remember: check before you travel using our journey planners to find the best combination of local and limited stop rail replacement services for your journey.
Wrexham to Chester services - Weekend rail closures
Engineering work at Chester station will also affect services between Wrexham General and Chester on three weekends.
Trains between Wrexham General and Chester will be replaced by buses on:
- Sunday 10 January
- Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 January
- Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 January
Rail replacement buses will run between Chester and Wrexham, and will also extend to Shrewsbury to offer better onward journey connections.
Services from Chester towards Manchester, Liverpool and Crewe will continue to run as normal.
Helping you during your journey
TfW bus coordinators will be available at key interchange stations, including Holyhead, Bangor, Llandudno Junction and Chester, to help you find the right service and make your connection.
While our limited-stop coach service also calls at Colwyn Bay, we recommend changing between local all-stations buses and the faster limited-stop service at Llandudno Junction, where our bus coordinators will be on hand to help.
If you need assistance, speak directly to a member of staff either at our stations or our bus coordinators. Alternatively, you can contact our customer relations team: Contact us
Passenger Assist and Accessible Travel
Whilst all of our rail replacement buses will be fully accessible, if you require additional assistance or need extra support to use our rail replacement services, we strongly encouraged you to book Passenger Assist before travelling, so our teams can make the necessary arrangements to best support you.
You can book Passenger Assist through the TfW website or by calling 03333 211 202.
Alternative travel options
If you’re travelling to Liverpool, you may want to use the Wrexham to Bidston line, connecting to Liverpool bound services at Shotton.
Alongside our rail replacement services, there’s a number of bus services that run across North Wales.
TaithCymru
If you’re travelling between North and South-West Wales, or between the North Wales Coast and the Cambrian line, you can also use our TaithCymru coach service.
The service runs between Bangor and Carmarthen and can be booked in advance online or by phone, with connections to Cambrian line services for destinations including Shrewsbury and Birmingham International.
TrawsCymru
TrawsCymru operate the following services across North Wales:
- T10 - Bangor to Corwen
- T2 - Bangor to Aberystwyth,
- T22 - Caernarfon to Blaenau Ffestiniog
- T51 - Rhyl to Wrexham
- T8 - Chester to Corwen
- T3 & T3C - Wrexham to Barmouth
fflecsi
Our fflecsi services are a demand-responsive transport (DRT) option, run in partnership with local councils, volunteer organisations and bus operators.
There are 12 fflecsi zones across Denbighshire, Conwy, Flintshire and Gwynedd. Passengers can travel within each zone however cannot travel between different zones on the same service. More information on these services, each zone and information on how to make a booking can be found here.
Using pay as you go?
You can continue to use pay as you go on rail replacement buses between Chester and Rhyl and on the Wrexham to Bidston line.
Most replacement bus stops are a short walk from the railway station. Remember to tap in at the station before boarding your replacement bus and tap out at the station when you arrive.
At Chester and Rhyl, please speak to a member of our gate line team to tap in or out using their handheld reader. This will help you avoid tapping on the wrong side of the barriers, which could result in an incomplete journey charge.
Changing from a replacement bus to a train at Chester
If you're travelling from Rhyl, Prestatyn, Flint or Shotton on our rail replacement services and want to switch onto a train service at Chester:
- Tap in at the station where you start your journey. Then walk to the nearby replacement bus stop.
- Board your replacement bus to Chester.
- When you arrive at Chester, speak to a member of our gate line team to tap out using one of their handheld readers.
- If you're continuing your journey by train, tap back in using the Chester gate line, as you walk through the gates towards the platforms.
- Catch your train and continue your journey.
- Tap out at your final station when you arrive.
For journeys in the opposite direction, tap out as you walk through the gate line at Chester station towards the station exit, and speak to a member of our gate line or revenue staff to tap on using one of their handheld readers before boarding your rail replacement service.
Missed a tap?
If you forget to tap in or out, you can correct your journey through the TfW app or website by registering for a pay as you go account.
To make things easier during the closure, we’ll temporarily increase the number of missed tap corrections you can make each month from six to 14 during January.
Why is the railway closing?
The closure will allow Network Rail to carry out more than £25 million of essential work along the North Wales Coast.
Closing the railway for four weeks will allow several years’ worth of complex work to be completed safely and efficiently. The investment will help create a safer, more reliable, accessible and resilient railway for passengers and freight services for years to come.
More information on what work Network Rail will be carrying out during the closure can be found on their website.
Building a better railway for North Wales - Network Rail
