Arriva Trains Wales and some of their staff have shared their stories after the Beast From The East brought one of the worst snowfalls in recent memory.
If the snow is as high as the roof on your 4×4, you certainly have a reason to not to go to work – not the case for Valley lines train driver, Jan Eldam. Jan, who lives in St Nicholas (Vale of Glamorgan) plowed through the snow in a tractor which he borrowed from farmer to drive to Cardiff for his shift.
Arriva Trains Wales Driver Manager, Philip Brown, said “I'd told the guys to only come in if they felt it was safe,” said Arriva Trains Wales Driver Manager Philip Brown.
“He sent me the text of his 4×4 buried in snow so I thought ‘fair enough', but then he called me to say he'd borrowed a neighbour's tractor and was on his way. It was an incredible effort to keep out customers moving.”
The Network Rail Machynlleth team worked all day Friday to remove wind-blown trees on the line at Llandre, north of Aberystwyth. On Saturday, they were out riding a route proving train and cleared 25 fallen trains on the Dovey Junction (Dyfi Junction, in Welsh) to Pwllheli line. They also made sure Machynlleth station was safe and clear for passengers when the trains resumed on Monday.
The Hereford Signalling and Track Team worked around the clock clearing snow from Thursday morning to protect track and signalling equipment that was affected by the freezing temperatures.
Replacement bus services were difficult to organise and were thin on the ice, this is until Christopher Boulter stepped up and dusted off the old London Transport Routemaster. Christopher is a road transport coordinator for Arriva and a member of the passenger panel.
Christopher said, “Some of the ‘normal' vehicles apparently wouldn't start in the extreme cold but this young lady of a mere 55+ years old was used to get Arriva passengers home rather than leave them frozen!”
The bus was used to convey passengers from Shrewsbury on the Cambrian line route.
Across the network, staff pitched in to shovel tonnes of snow from platforms and car parks. Many who couldn't reach their normal workplace put themselves forward to help.
Countless bags of salt were thrown onto public areas to keep slips and trips to a minimum. The gritting process continues where snow and ice pose a risk.
A Network Rail project manager drove signallers to the Wales Railway Operations Centre at 7 am on Saturday so they could get to their shifts after spending hours helping get Nurses to a local hospital using a 4×4.
The Social media team dealt with more than 5,500 customer tweets, more than ever received before. Whilst sharing the latest public information, they averaged a less than to minute response to customers.
By Monday, all lines, except for the Heart of Wales line and the Blaenau Ffestiniog to Llandudno line, had reopened.
What did the officials say?
Arriva Trains Wales Director Gareth Thomas said: “We know that the last couple of days have been really difficult for customers with the extreme weather causing severe service disruption and we thank customers for their patience.
“Despite the challenges, our colleagues at ATW and in Network Rail really have been going above and beyond to get to work, keep services running and to keep passengers safe. There are some fantastic examples here of how they've thought outside the box and come up with really creative ideas to do the best they can for our customers.”
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