Transport for Wales says that its services will be disrupted for the rest of 2022 as a result of a train collision near Craven Arms.
The train was made up of three two-car Class 150/2 Sprinter trains and struck a mini digger at 60mph. This caused major fire damage to the first two trians.
The digger is believed to have been stolen from a nearby rental yard before being abandoned on the railway line.
A major investigation is underway by the British Transport Police and they have appealed for information about the incident.
However, the damage to the trains will take a number of months to repair. This leaves TfW with four fewer carriages to use across the entire Wales and Borders Network.
TfW uses Sprinter trains on many of its routes, including the Core Valley Lines to Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil.
As a result of the damage and ongoing work to the railway at Radyr, TfW is running a reduced service across the Valleys network for the next few days – this includes no trains on the City Line.
Rail tickets will be accepted on Cardiff Bus services, and replacement bus services are in operation to support students travelling to Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales High School.
Colin Lea, Transport for Wales' Planning and Performance Director, said: “We're hugely relieved that the incident at Craven Arms was not more severe. The quick actions of our driver and conductor ensured the trains were safely evacuated, and many colleagues across TfW and Network Rail worked hard to reopen the line as quickly as possible once forensic investigations were complete.
“The impact of this serious criminal act will however continue to be felt for some time. The loss of two trains will make it far more challenging to provide additional capacity for busy services over the next few months, particularly for this summer's major events at the Principality Stadium such as the Stereophonics and Tom Jones concerts in June.
“We're working with our industry partners to source any additional trains available to cover for the damaged units, and hope to be able to announce a temporary arrangement soon. In the meantime, we strongly advise customers check before they travel and use our Capacity Checker – an online tool that allows customers to see which trains are likely to have the most space available.”
Detective Chief Inspector Sam Blackburn, from BTP's Major, Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “While we are at early stage of our investigation, we are confident this fire was a result of the attempted theft of two mini diggers which then ended up on the tracks.
“Any obstruction to the railway is extremely dangerous and can easily result in serious injuries or fatalities, so we are taking this incident very seriously and working hard to hold those responsible to account.
“In this case, the collision with the mini digger resulted in a fuel leak which has then ignited. We are working closely with the Environment Agency to ensure the fuel is contained and any risk to the environment is minimised.”
“I would like to appeal to anyone who may have information to get in touch with us as soon as possible by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 665 of 22/05/22.”
Devastated by what had happened 😢
This just about sums up TfW’s inability to run a railway! Not enough staff and not enough units.
Or perhaps that’s not quite correct: there are trains being delivered and sat in sidings: the new CAF Class 197s, Stadler Flirt Class 231s which can’t be used on some Valley lines as their diesel engines can’t cope with the gradients; the second hand VivaRail Class 230s which, after 3 years, still haven’t appeared on the Wrexham-Bidston line; the Class 769s which have been a complete shambles and spend most of their time in depot; Class 170 units which aren’t allowed to run on some of the lines they were bought for (West Wales and the Heart of Wales lines); and finally the Mark 4 coaches + Class 67s which still haven’t entered service fully and need a shed load of money spending on them before they could.
TfW need to keep Class 150/153/158 units spare to replace all of these particularly the loco+coaches services particularly because almost all drivers can drive them.
Fortunately it looks as if the crew and passengers were very lucky in this instance.
Hopefully the culprits will be found and dealt with appropriately.
If the long awaited class 230 units were actually available for service on the Wrexham to Boston route that would release two class 150/2 units each day for work on the Valley lines network and relieve the rolling stock problem caused by this highly dangerous act.
Can anyone imagine SNCF or DB not being able to run a full timetable for “months” because they’re short of *2x 2-car DMUs*?? They would be lying on the floor crying with laughter at the notion. The shocking dysfunctionality of Britain’s fragmented railway laid bare yet again.