Some additional services, starting part way along the line to London Euston via Chester are operated by Avanti West Coast.

[7] The re-doubling was completed in April 2017, with the project described to be an effort to increase services between Wrexham and Chester[8] and improving certain sections of line to allow trains to run at 90 mph.

However, realising that it offered connection opportunities between the Port of Liverpool and the industrialised Midlands, the railway applied to extend to Shrewsbury.

Likewise when construction was completed by 1848, the final route also bypassed Oswestry (one of the scheme's original destinations).

He had warned Stephenson about the problems using cast iron girders only a few months before construction of the bridge at a meeting at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London, but his advice was ignored.

In 1849 the larger London and North Western Railway began aggressively trying to take business from the line in order to put it into bankruptcy.

Avanti West Coast operate one train per day on weekdays each way between Wrexham General and London Euston, via Chester.

Padeswood Hall Cement works at Penyffordd does not send any of its finished product out by rail, but it does source its coal via Railfreight, mostly just once a week.

Most often these trains are from Scotland and they run-round in Croes Newydd Loop south of Wrexham General station.

[citation needed] Kronospan's board factory at Chirk has inward flows of timber from Carlisle, Baglan Bay, Teignbridge and Ribblehead.

[18][19][20] In March 2012, the National Assembly for Wales announced that sections of the line would be part of a £46-million improvement scheme.

[22][23] It is hoped this will create increased traffic between Wrexham and Chester and encourage new regular services to London and other new destinations.

[25][26] The Chester to Shrewsbury Rail Partnership aims to promote travel along the line and to seek improvements to services and facilities.

[19] In 2006, the Chester to Shrewsbury Rail Partnership commissioned the Scott Wilson Report to assess the feasibility of certain enhancements to the service.

[5] The accompanying maps for the latter (as well as mentions in the former), were used to represent Transport for Wales' long-term ambitions in the area, which includes two new proposed stations on the Welsh sections of the line.