Gare de Chester

Chester railway station is located in Newtown, Chester, England. Services are operated by Avanti West Coast, Merseyrail, Northern and Transport for Wales. From 1875 to 1969 the station was known as Chester General to distinguish it from Chester Northgate. The station's Italianate frontage was designed by the architect Francis Thompson. Work on a £10 million regeneration scheme, the Chester Renaissance programme was completed in 2007. The development includes a new roof, improved customer facilities and improved access to the station. A plaque commemorating Thomas Brassey is installed on the wall opposite the booking office. The station marks one end of the Baker Way a footpath leading to Delamere railway station. Scheduled services from Chester station are operated by Avanti West Coast to London Euston and Holyhead, Merseyrail to Liverpool, Northern to Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds and Transport for Wales to Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Airport, Crewe, Birmingham New Street, Cardiff Central, Llandudno and Holyhead. On 23 September 1840, the first station at Chester was opened by the Chester and Birkenhead Railway (CBR). One week later, on 1 October 1840, the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) opened a separate station. Neither station was open for long, due to the inconvenience of transferring goods and passengers between them. They were replaced by the new joint station at the junction between the CBR, GJR and Robert Stephenson's new Chester and Holyhead Railway (CHR) which started at the joint station. The station was designed by the architect Francis Thompson, and constructed by Thomas Brassey. The engineer C. H. Wild designed the train shed. Elements of the overall design were produced by other engineers, including Stephenson. On 1 August 1847, construction of the station began, the foundation stone was laid by Brassey. It was built by a workforce of around 2,000 people, including bricklayers, stonemasons, carpenters, roofers, plumbers and other skilled and unskilled workers.