Transport for Wales (TfW) has announced that it will increase train service frequency on its Liverpool-to-Chester route (via Liverpool Airport), and on the Ebbw Vale branch, next month (January 2024), not on 10 December as originally planned.
Having recently completed its upgrade of the Ebbw Vale line, TfW had hoped to increase the train frequency from this Sunday. It was due to restore the hourly service to Liverpool Airport at the same time.
However, November's storms damaged the wheels of several trains, and TfW will spend December repairing them. Once the repair programme is completed, TfW will have enough trains in working order to increase the timetables on the two routes in the new year.
A Transport for Wales spokesperson said: “We have a comprehensive programme in place for repairing the damaged wheels on the trains affected, which will take most of December to complete. This will cause a few weeks of delay to delivering the frequency enhancements planned as part of the December 2023 new timetable.
“Our engineers are working as fast as they can to get the repairs completed, which will put us in a stronger position to reliably deliver the new services, making sure we have enough rolling stock.”
Where are all the new trains we were promised I have yet to see one on the Ebbw vale line all we get is old
2 car trains With hundreds of people trying to get on at Cardiff , TFW Absolute Nightmare
Travelling from Liverpool SP to Colwyn Bay by TFW noticed at Chester a 2 car class 150 pull into the bay platform from Holyhead. An Avanti Holyhead Euston had been cancelled. Literally hundreds of people got off the 2 car train. They kept on getting off. TFW know how to pack ’em in. Just looked on in astonishment.
If you want a real laugh/cry about TfW, try what I experienced. On Tuesday 21 November last, I planned to catch the 18.31 service from Cardiff Queen Street to Ninian Park to get to the Cardiff City Stadium for the (sold out) international Euro 2024 qualifier between Wales and Turkey. I would have got the 19.01 on what is generally a half-hourly service, but curiously, there is no 19.01 service (!). When the train arrived (2-3 minutes late) at Queen Street, although I was standing in the middle of the platform, I had to run some distance to get on, as the train was comprised of just 1 carriage!! Everyone at Queen Street was able to get on board, although it was standing room only on departure. However, the next station on this service is Cardiff. Central! When the (1-carriage!) train pulled into Cardiff Central, the passengers waiting for this train were standing 6 deep and continued along the platform for more than the length of the train (not difficult!). At first, people piled on and I, and probably others already on board, genuinely feared that they might get crushed, because there simply wasn’t enough room to accommodate everyone. Then, just as things began to get uncomfortable, some member of staff held the people on the platform back. The doors closed and the train moved off, much to everyone’s relief. Hundreds were left behind on the Central station platform.
This high-profile game had been publicised for months. It was a sell-out, meaning that 33,000 people would be going. Ninian Park is the closest station to the stadium. Yet it was quite apparent that no thought, planning or concession to the crashingly obvious increase in demand that such an event would inevitably generate, was given by those responsible. This was a genuinely terrifying experience. I like train travel, but for the a few minutes I thought I might not survive the journey, such was the unfolding chaotic situation at Cardiff Central. Those responsible for the planning of services and rolling-stock for these services should hang their heads in shame over such incompetence and a total lack of awareness of the situation.
Don’t know how TFW manage to do it , two carriages when it’s busy and four when it’s quiet, trains from Shrewsbury to Birmingham and return are a nightmare, yet TFW have lots of new trains sat idol at crewe and Telford.
Transport for Wales ar absolutel joke only two train carriage from Bangor to Manchester. And when you got student going home to see family & Friends and family going home after there holidays in North Wales and all the stops on the way aswell those trains fill up fast. And they got a cheek to go on strike and put the prices up every year
They haven’t gone on strike! It’s gwr read the correct information!
I regularly travel with my disabled mum who is in a wheelchair, getting on the train is never an issue but actually getting to the wheelchair space is mostly impossible because the trains are packed. If I do get to the wheelchair spaces they are unavailable as other passengers have put luggage there and are elsewhere in the carriage, the train conductors do little to help. I am not saying my mum should be entitled to a wheelchair space but consideration from other passengers and train staff would help
Do people feel that it’s time to take back the trains into public control and maybe run it as an actual public service instead of a profit making disaster. No-one is happy with their train company, literally no-one. Umpteen complaints, and of course it is incredibly expensive to use.
Transport for Wales Ltd (Trafnidiaeth Cymru) is wholly owned by the Welsh Ministers. Transport for Wales has three subsidiaries: Transport for Wales Rail Ltd, Transport for Wales Innovation Services and Pullman Rail Ltd.
Since COVID, yes; although I think at least one of the contractors Amey and Keolis retain some involvement in the Rail franchise. Until it folded as a result of COVID, there was also ‘Transport For Wales Rail Services’: the franchise operator wholly owned (I believe) by a joint venture of Keolis and Amey.
A lot of the problems today (such as the awful, uncomfortable, new trains and the decision to replace all the trains inherited from Arriva Trains Wales, including the ones that are nicer than the new fleet – 30 of the latter (including the 27 newest) have already gone) are inherited from that Keolis Amey joint venture.
The UK Government also has some responsibility for the franchise, since it runs services in England they specified some of the minimum service terms. They are also partly to blame for the downgraded rolling stock due to specifying metro-style rolling stock for the Chester – Manchester Airport route rather than investing in infrastructure upgrades at Manchester Piccadilly to allow the use of rolling stock designer for long-distance use.
The blame for the problems should therefore be shared between Welsh Government, UK Government and KeolisAmey.
Definitely a mode of travel to avoid in Wales, unreliable trains and 20 mph on some roads I am glad I don’t live in Wales anymore.
I agree with all the comments above a totally useless company run by a bunch of idiots who do not know how to run a railway !!! Yet again a complete and failure by the so called Welsh Government Since 2018 its from one crisis to another “TOTALLY USELESS”
Same with Cardiff to Nottingham, two University cities and only ever two carriages when there is a train . For eighteen months or more, so many trains cancelled,reason given,”not enough drivers”! Not good enough!!
I live in North Wales when TFW took over from Arriva they promised all sorts. They said due to Arriva not bidding for any new stock TFW would have to repair the old ones. Then they cut train services and stations from where I live, they then continued to use only 2 Carriages on the busiest route usually in summer hols packing passengers in like sardines from North Wales to Manchester. The new trains are nice but hardly run and when run are full of passengers by Chester because of the stupid 2 Carriages rule by them. Wish TWF would buck up their ideas especially when they keep increasing the fares and we still feel like 3rd class citizens.
Maybe Mr Dreyfod should of spent the money on improving public transport. Before spending millions on reducing speed to 30 miles per hour first 🥴🥴
T4W are one of the worse train companies out there. I thought Arriva was bad but T4W cancels train constantly. Only puts 2 carriages on the West Wales to Manchester and back when they need at least 4. Packs people in like sardines and it’s a nightmare to get off the train when it’s overcrowded and the conductors don’t give you time to get to the doors before they close them. The carriages are always unclean. Toilets are broken or people hiding in them so they don’t have to pay for tickets and the conductors do nothing but hid in the train cab. They need to get some managers from the Asian train companies to run it. The carriages are plenty and clean. Yobs and fare dodgers get removed. They actually take pride in their trains unlike the lazy and greedy managers of T4W. Give the train contracts to the Chinese or Japanese train companies where they work to make each journey a pleasure. Shame on T4W!!!!
Remember that it was a Japanese company (Hitachi) that built the ‘ Intercity Express Programme’ class 800/801 trains. Those things were built to replace 8 coach IC125 trains on GWR services out of London Paddington yet many of the new trains have only 5 coaches. ALL the class 800/801/802 trains also have cheap-and-nasty-looking recessed sliding doors (which means there can’t be a window for the first row of seats so LNER have replaced those seats with an extra luggage rack) rather than neat, sleek, flush-fitting plug doors. They also have cheap-and-nasty rock-hard seats from Fainsa across the class 800/801/802 trains.
The Japanese will do what the client’s flawed specifications allow them to do – simply giving contracts to Japanese companies will not necessarily improve the service.
It’s 20mph btw
I regularly travel Manchester Piccadilly to Wilmslow, Chester, Shrewsbury and Cardiff. And obviously the return journey.
Over the last 2 years, this service has totally deteriorated.
1. It regularly fails to arrive at Manchester Piccadilly; Rrunning late, it’s regularly turned around at either Crewe or Wilmslow.
2. It is regularly overcrowded. Increasingly, the train is standing room only on leaving Manchester Piccadilly, or on the return journey from Cardiff.
3. Several of the trains are old diesel multiple units; They’re well pasts their sell by date and should be in a museum.
4. They’ve introduced a new train, which has less capacity than the train it replaced!
I’ve now reached the stage, where I don’t even try to catch the 09:30 am train from Piccadilly, and use an alternate route!
TFW just don’t care …. Run by non railway people being paid extortionate salaries …. putting the passenger first oh that is Network Rails strap line perhaps they should start running the trains…