Transport for Wales Class 158s travel 3,000 additional miles before developing faults

Transport for Wales has announced that their fleet of trains are travelling more miles before developing a fault.

The increase in reliability means trains can travel twice around the entire TfW network before needing a repair, based on the miles per technical incident measurement.

Whilst COVID19 saw fewer trains running, passengers travelling between October and December 2020 still had a 24.4% improvement in punctuality performance.

Transport for Wales’ Head of Customer Experience and Innovation Barry Lloyd said: “Punctuality always comes top when we look at the drivers of customers satisfaction, so it’s fantastic to see this recent improvement in performance.

“A fantastic achievement from all involved and one that our customers would have welcomed.”

The improvements meant that Transport for Wales became the third-most improved TOC in the UK, according to the ORR.

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New technicians, better reporting, availability targets and wheel slip protection have all helped to keep trains in service for longer.

New compressors were also fitted to the Class 150, 153, 158 fleet to help with air system reliability.

The sprinters also recorded between 36% and 60% improvements in the period.

Class 158s were the most improved, which travelled 5783 miles in 2018, but now go 9253 miles on the Cambrian Line.

This is equal to making the Pwllheli to Birmingham trip an additional 20 times when compared to previous years.

Transport for Wales introduced their Class 170 fleet in December 2019 and the first Class 769 in November 2020, both reporting big improvements in reliability, whilst the Class 175 fleet remains consistent with year on year reliability.

Head of Fleet Jonathan Thomas said: “The new measures we’ve put in place coupled with targeted investment and a lot of hard work has significantly paid off.

“With our 15x fleet all averaging more than 2,000 miles longer in service before a technical incident is incredible.

“To deliver these performance figures on trains built more than 35 years ago shows just what can be achieved with targeted investment and key changes.

“Keeping our trains out on the network for longer has massive benefits for customers and gives us more time to work on other train improvements.”

Planning and Performance Director Leticia Frank said: “These improvements are fantastic and show just what can be achieved through targeted investment and action.

“Our customers deserve to have the confidence in us that we are delivering an incredibly reliable service they can trust, and they have really seen that over the last year. Our partnership with Network Rail and close alignment is fundamental to achieve this.

“The work the fleet team has done is remarkable, and our delivery teams that provide the service daily deserve recognition for improving On Time, at every stop. Our planning teams work closely with operations to ensure adjustments to service are made to serve customers where they most need it. These challenging times required more timetable changes than ever before, and we have taken every opportunity to make timing adjustments. All these are translated into in these results and we will continue towards our goal of being the best performing operator in Britain.”

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