# Why doesn't Arriva Trains Wales speak Welsh in Chester?



## teuchter (Feb 26, 2010)

I am in the process of travelling from Wrexham to Holyhead. At Wrexham, all the signage is bilingual, as are the announcements on the trains and the platforms. The same applies all along the N Wales coast line.
Obviously this is very sensible; no-one want to see Welsh people getting lost because everything is in a foreign language.
But at Chester station there is no signage in Welsh; there are no Welsh announcements either. Now I know that Chester is technically in England, but near enough any Welsh person travelling from N Wales to anywhere else in Wales by rail has to pass through Chester, and possibly change trains there.
So why are the needs of Welsh travellers not catered for at Chester? I'm concerned that a lot of Wellsh people must miss connections as a result of getting confused by the signage.
I think I should probably write a letter to Arriva about this.


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## editor (Feb 26, 2010)

Chester station is in England.


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## teuchter (Feb 26, 2010)




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## Kanda (Feb 26, 2010)

You are becoming Victor Meldrew


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## editor (Feb 26, 2010)

teuchter said:


>


Not much sadder than a really desperate troller just embarrassing themselves.


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## mattie (Feb 26, 2010)

Pretty simple really - they'd be aware they need to change trains in a 'foreign' country.


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## danny la rouge (Feb 26, 2010)

teuchter said:


> I know that Chester is technically in England


"Technically"?  

I've been to Chester.  And I can confirm that, while technically in England, it is, to all intents and purposes, an English town.


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## mattie (Feb 26, 2010)

danny la rouge said:


> "Technically"?
> 
> I've been to Chester.  And I can confirm that, while technically in England, it is, to all intents and purposes, an English town.




Chester is a City, unbelievable as it may seem to anyone who's been there


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## danny la rouge (Feb 26, 2010)

mattie said:


> Chester is a City, unbelievable as it may seem to anyone who's been there


Chester, while technically a city, is nonetheless, to all intents and purposes, a town.  Much like our own dear Stirling.


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## teuchter (Feb 26, 2010)

editor said:


> Not much sadder than a really desperate troller just embarrassing themselves.


It makes me cry when people don't read my posts. I don't think they realise the blood sweat and tears that go into them.


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## danny la rouge (Feb 26, 2010)

teuchter said:


> It makes me cry when people don't read my posts. I don't think they realise the blood sweat and tears that go into them.


Chrau, chwysa a dagrau.


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## teuchter (Feb 26, 2010)

danny la rouge said:


> "Technically"?
> 
> I've been to Chester.  And I can confirm that, while technically in England, it is, to all intents and purposes, an English town.


I bought a sandwich there and can confirm this also. But to the Welsh rail traveller, Chester station is to all intents and purposes, part of the Welsh railway network.


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## danny la rouge (Feb 26, 2010)

teuchter said:


> I bought a sandwich there and can confirm this also. But to the Welsh rail traveller, Chester station is to all intents and purposes, part of the Welsh railway network.


 Is it?

Should I be campaigning for Gaelic signs at Stoke-on-Trent?


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## editor (Feb 26, 2010)

teuchter said:


> But to the Welsh rail traveller, Chester station is to all intents and purposes, part of the Welsh railway network.


No it's not.


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## teuchter (Feb 26, 2010)

If you look at a railway map, you'll see that it is. 

It is operated by Arriva Trains Wales.

You have to pass through it to get to or from N Wales to the rest of the country.

In fact, the "Premier Train", heavily subsidised by the Welsh Assembly, and intended to establish better connections between N Wales and the capital, passes through twice a day.

It's not as if this is the only place in the world that this is the case. See the list here for example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclave_and_exclave#National_railway_passing_through_foreign_territory

I doubt that in any of those instances, signage and announcements in the train's native language are suspended during the time the train is on the "wrong" side of the border.

The question is, surely, what would be lost if ATW were to correct this anomaly? Nothing as far as I can see.


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## mattie (Feb 26, 2010)

Ban 'em from Chester.  Bloody Johnny Foreigner wearing out our tracks.  No wonder it's all gone to pot.


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## davesgcr (Feb 26, 2010)

Millions of Welsh monoglots in Chester 

(I am Welsh BTW)


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## agricola (Feb 26, 2010)

Have you thought about changing at Shotton?  Its only a short walk, but its all in Wales.


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## Mungy (Feb 27, 2010)

signage in wales is mostly bilingual. signage is england is mostly in english. if chester was in wales the signage would be bilingual.


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## invisibleplanet (Feb 27, 2010)

I'm pretty sure that Chester still has a statute that says you can shoot a Welshperson from the city walls with your bow and not be tried for murder. Or something like that. 

Given the history of Chester vs. Welshpersons, why would Chester provide signs in Welsh?


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## Hocus Eye. (Feb 27, 2010)

Yes I have heard that story about the legality of shooting a Welshman in Chester.  Others on these boards claim that it is another town altogether where this is the case but I understand that it is Chester.

We don't need bilingual signs on the station in Chester.  That would be Political Correctness Gorn Mad.  I have been to Chester on a couple of occasions and by train as well.  However I came from the sensible direction of London being a noble Englishman.

Well I am not a nobleman you understand, more salt of the earth. (I think they said 'salt' - it began with 's' anyway)


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## 1927 (Feb 27, 2010)

invisibleplanet said:


> I'm pretty sure that Chester still has a statute that says you can shoot a Welshperson from the city walls with your bow and not be tried for murder. Or something like that.
> 
> Given the history of Chester vs. Welshpersons, why would Chester provide signs in Welsh?



If they want to get uppity I think we should legislate for the seizure of their football ground which is in Wales.


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## embree (Feb 27, 2010)

teuchter said:


> If you look at a railway map, you'll see that it is.
> 
> It is operated by Arriva Trains Wales.



you can get the Merseyrail from there as well, should there be signs in Scouse too?


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## 1927 (Feb 27, 2010)

embree said:


> you can get the Merseyrail from there as well, should there be signs in Scouse too?



They did have them, but they got nicked!


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## chilango (Feb 27, 2010)

i've seen signs in welsh at stations on the wirral...


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## chilango (Feb 27, 2010)

...and at oswestry iirc.


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## embree (Feb 27, 2010)

chilango said:


> ...and at oswestry iirc.



yeah but half of Oswestry thinks it's in Wales anyway


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## quimcunx (Feb 27, 2010)

i go there. i dont go thru wales to get there and i dont want to be subjected to unneccessary welsh thank you very much.   full of bloody scouse accents, mind. welsh would be better than that torture.


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## Mungy (Feb 28, 2010)

quimcunx said:


> i go there. i dont go thru wales to get there and i dont want to be subjected to unneccessary welsh thank you very much.   full of bloody scouse accents, mind. welsh would be better than that torture.



that stings


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## Clint Iguana (Feb 28, 2010)

You'll be wanting Welsh signs in Patagonia next


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## editor (Feb 28, 2010)

embree said:


> yeah but half of Oswestry thinks it's in Wales anyway


It's got plenty of Welsh street and Welsh placenames.


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## teuchter (Mar 4, 2010)

quimcunx said:


> i go there. i dont go thru wales to get there and i dont want to be subjected to unneccessary welsh thank you very much.   full of bloody scouse accents, mind. welsh would be better than that torture.



Typical English


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## mattie (Mar 4, 2010)

teuchter said:


> Typical English



To be fair, people of all nationalities hate scousers.


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## quimcunx (Mar 4, 2010)

teuchter said:


> Typical English



Typical Scott  wait.... what are you again, English?  Kenyan?


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## teuchter (Mar 4, 2010)

quimcunx said:


> Typical Scott  wait.... what are you again, English?  Kenyan?



I'm 25% partly Irish.


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## quimcunx (Mar 4, 2010)

I'm not sure getting the ferry to Dublin for the weekend counts.


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## teuchter (Mar 4, 2010)

quimcunx said:


> I'm not sure getting the ferry to Dublin for the weekend counts.



This is exactly the kind of nationalistic attitude that is preventing signage being provided for the Welsh in Chester station just because it's "in England".


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## Build_A_Fire (Mar 7, 2010)

I'm fairly sure that the amount of people missing connections because the signs aren't in Welsh would be close to zero.Which part of signage are you suggesting they don't understand? The name Chester? The time? The platform number? How little clue are you giving North Walians credit for??


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