Plans are in the pipeline for a new "Metro-style" train linking Liverpool and Wrexham, after a service connecting Merseyside with Wales was described as "awful".
Cllr Liam Robinson, chair of Merseytravel, slammed the line connecting the city in North Wales with Bidston in Wirral, calling it "substandard".
He described it as the "forgotten child of the city region's railway network", also speaking about exciting plans for a new service connecting Wrexham with Liverpool city centre.
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Proposals are currently at an early stage, but the details were revealed by Cllr Robinson at a Westminster Social Policy Forum event taking place in Liverpool city centre on Friday.
But he first had some strong words about the service currently operated by Transport for Wales.
He told the meeting at Liverpool's Holiday Inn: "One of the things that I am very, very conscious of is that we have the Bidston to Wrexham line that genuinely is the forgotten child of the city region's railway network.
"It's a very poor-quality service traditionally enjoyed... actually, I'm not going to say enjoyed, because it's awful, that links up Bidston in the Wirral all the way down to Wrexham.
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"As poor as that railway service has been for decades, we actually know that it's seen 75% passenger growth in the past 10 years - that's the official figure.
"But we actually know that because the trains are so full at peak times, and the conductor can't get through to check tickets, it's probably more like 100%. We know the demand on that line has gone up significantly."
He said because it connects so many enterprise zones along its route, such as the upcoming Wirral Waters development in Bidston, the line's economic potential is "absolutely huge".
Cllr Robinson added: "There's lots of very detailed work we are doing with the Department for Transport and Welsh Government looking at how we can significantly improve standards of service on that line.
"How can we improve the line speed? It takes far too long as an end to end journey. How can we run more services? At the moment, the current hourly service is substandard. That's committed to go up to a half-hourly service, something the Welsh Government through their rail franchise are going to be delivering.
"But we have got a much more ambitious plan for that line working with all of those partners. We genuinely want to see a Metro-style service on that line coming all the way through into the heart of Liverpool. We don't think the stop at Bidston is the right one."
Lee Robinson, North Wales Director for Transport for Wales said: “We recognise the current situation with the Wrexham - Bidston line and through implementing our £5 billion investment programme, Transport for Wales will provide solutions.
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“We plan to introduce new rolling stock, which will be particularly well suited to this line. These metro-style trains have been completely rebuilt for service with TfW.
"They will substantially increase capacity, reduce journey times and create a more modern customer experience, including the addition of power sockets, electronic passenger information, increased cycle storage and air conditioning. The new trains are fitted with automatic passenger counts, which will end years of speculation about passenger numbers based on ticket sales.
“We will also increase weekday service frequency on the Wrexham-Bidston line to two trains per hour by the end of 2021 and by the end of 2023, the frequency of Sunday services will increase to one train per hour.
“We are working with our colleagues in Network Rail to assess current line speeds and opportunities for improvement and we are also in the early stages of looking to develop a new station.”
John Allcock from the Wrexham Bidston Rail User Group (WBRUA) said: “The WBRUA is working with Mersey Travel and TfW and improvements have already started to happen (additional trains on Sunday) and the WBRUA is optimistic that the new trains coming to the line in the near future will realise a better quality service - which will step up to two trains per hour in the next few years.”