Chester Railway Station

The station is about 15 minutes walk from central Chester and unfortunately there is not much to divert you in and around the station. It could be worse I guess, but I am not a fan.

A cold station who are not the best organised. It has a WH Smiths and a Costa before the gate but a random coffee company after meaning if you haven’t got you act together or you miss your train you are left with bad coffee and expensive sandwiches.
They like to change platforms at the last minute and it isn’t the easiest station to work out where the trains will arrive with split platform numbers (A & B).
Good connections to London, Warrington, North Wales, Manchester and Liverpool. The station has that old time chiq look.
Unfortunately it is one of the most depressing parts of my journeys.

chester train station has improved a lot like the way they now have inside waiting rooms and more cafes

Good station facilities as you would expect

This train station is the best place to alight if you’re heading for the historical town of Chester, and all the delights that the city affords.
I actually really like this station. Compared to some main city stations, it actually has charm. And it also has little coffee shops and snack bars, which are essential to any pleasant journey if you, like me, need your coffee breaks and your chocolate boosts.
There are also free public toilets.

I used the Chester train system for the first time in ages at the weekend and was pleasantly surprised at the changes. The main foyer has been completely refurbished and there stands a Costa Coffee, a decent customer service office and finally an arrivals/​departure board to replace the TVs that used to flicker and have many periods of being tempremental to say the least. It’s quite light and airy now and they’ve also introduced a barrier system which I’m not too keen on however. During the busy periods this would slow down the traffic through the station and trying to fumble and reach your tickets during the busy period that I did wasn’t very relaxing or helpful. However, I guess in the long run it is there to deter non-​paying passengers since you can’t enter without a ticket. I didn’t get to use the restroom which is usually clean but not the most welcoming or sweet smelling if you catch my drift so I’m not sure whether these have been refurbished either.
All in all, I like the electronic announcement board which has has a smaller verison on the platform that I was departing from, which again, was a huge improvement on the dodgy TVs. However, the little screen on the platform has a digital clock included and the other clock on the platform was covered up, therefore what happens in a powercut or during a software glitch will be interesting to see with no other clock now available for passengers. Perhaps the train companies are hoping that it will bring people closer if you need to ask other people the time during such a time. lol
My daughter and I were rather excited at seeing an old fashioned steam train parked there on Saturday though and I have seen other such trains pass through Chester station too so it’s a great station for train spotters I’m sure !!
PS: I did notice that they still had the over-​priced, but handy in an chocolate/​light reading emergency, shop at the entrance and the taxi rank was still directly outside which is always handy. There are still buses but the one you want may be at the bus-​stop across the road now, either outside the pub on the right or the hotel on the left.

The Rail Station in Chester has recently undergone a much needed refurbishment. This has made it much more pleseant and accessible — with a better ticket office and better access to information on trains etc.
There are a couple of basic coffee shops here and a WH Smith which is useful. It gets cold out on the platforms and the waiting rooms still need improving — but isn’t this the case with all British stations?
Access to the city is excellent — it is easily walkable or there is a free bus service which operates every 10 minutes or so and will drop you off right in the middle of the city — an excellent idea.