WALES AND BORDERS

Wales and Borders was the name of a train operating company that operated between 14 October 2001 and 7 December 2003. It was formed from part of the former Wales and West franchise (the remainder forming Wessex Trains) and the Cardiff Railway Company (which traded as Valley Lines), together with the lines from Shrewsbury to Pwllheli and Aberystwyth formerly operated by Central Trains.
Like the Wales and West and Cardiff Railway Company franchises it replaced, it was part of the National Express Group. It was based in Cardiff.
As a result of the re-organisation, the number of services between North and South Wales increased as did the number of services from station west of Cardiff to Manchester via the Marches line. However this was at the expense of services to the South Coast of England (e.g Brighton and Portsmouth Harbour) since services to those destinations were transferred to Wessex Trains who use Cardiff as their western terminus in Wales.
In September 2003 the lines west of Crewe, through Chester to Holyhead, Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog previously operated by First North Western were transferred to Wales and Borders. The company only ran the majority of trains in Wales and the Borders for about three months before the franchise ended.
In July 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority announced that from 7 December 2003 the franchise would be awarded for a 15 year period (subject to satisfactory reviews after 5 and 10 years) to Arriva Trains Wales.



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