Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

[Feedback]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

Did you expect all the problems to be sorted overnight? There's a long term plan which will take a few more years yet. It's vital work. Things couldn't have carried on as they were with ATW.

the service is utter dogshit. they have had nearly 6 years and we are not seeing any improvements. TfW are regularly at the bottom of the TOC league tables, and that is saying something when you consider Northern Rail are included.

As for the airport, its depressing, the less said about it the better.

the fact is, whether public or private, you need investment. Neither is better than the other without the right level of spend on continually renewing and upgrading.

TfW is shit, and state ownership hasn't improved things at all.

[Heathblue]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

the service is utter dogshit. they have had nearly 6 years and we are not seeing any improvements. TfW are regularly at the bottom of the TOC league tables, and that is saying something when you consider Northern Rail are included.

As for the airport, its depressing, the less said about it the better.

the fact is, whether public or private, you need investment. Neither is better than the other without the right level of spend on continually renewing and upgrading.

TfW is shit, and state ownership hasn't improved things at all.

Don't know much about previous service but changed to the choo choo the past 5 weeks as my transport to work, yes there has been lateness, and a train was cancelled whilst i was sat on it at HHL station one morning, but on the whole the service hasn't been too bad, as long as I'm situated in the office I'm at, I will not be rushing back to the car, when are the next strikes!!!!!!!

[Garth Blue]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

James Price couldn't run a train set.

[llan bluebird]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

I catch the train from Llanishen so it's quite a decent service and the new trains are great, but when i lived in Pontyclun the service was shocking, one train an hour on the main east-west line.

The issue is the lack of integration of a car-train plan. Cardiff Bay wants us to ditch or reduce car journeys, so why isn't there a mega car park and long trains every 10 mins from Tongwynlais with direct access to the M4, at least you can get people in and out of the city.

Its ok for me i live 5 mins from the train statin but i bet 90% of the south Wales doesn't

[poc]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

I catch the train from Llanishen so it's quite a decent service and the new trains are great, but when i lived in Pontyclun the service was shocking, one train an hour on the main east-west line.

The issue is the lack of integration of a car-train plan. Cardiff Bay wants us to ditch or reduce car journeys, so why isn't there a mega car park and long trains every 10 mins from Tongwynlais with direct access to the M4, at least you can get people in and out of the city.

Its ok for me i live 5 mins from the train statin but i bet 90% of the south Wales doesn't

one an hour ?

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

the service is utter dogshit. they have had nearly 6 years and we are not seeing any improvements. TfW are regularly at the bottom of the TOC league tables, and that is saying something when you consider Northern Rail are included.

And, at the moment, I wouldn't expect anything else, whether it was run by state or otherwise.

We're in the middle of a major upgrade to rail services across Wales. Things that should have been done during Arriva's tenure. As with many huge projects like this there have been faults and delays. Services will eventually improve, but for you to moan that we've had 6 years and not seen any improvements shows how little you know about what is actually going on.

"What do we want?"
"Better rail services"
"When do we want them?"
"Yesterday"
"Are we prepared to be inconvenienced in the meantime?"
"No."

[Feedback]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

And, at the moment, I wouldn't expect anything else, whether it was run by state or otherwise.

We're in the middle of a major upgrade to rail services across Wales. Things that should have been done during Arriva's tenure. As with many huge projects like this there have been faults and delays. Services will eventually improve, but for you to moan that we've had 6 years and not seen any improvements shows how little you know about what is actually going on.

"What do we want?"
"Better rail services"
"When do we want them?"
"Yesterday"
"Are we prepared to be inconvenienced in the meantime?"
"No."

so why didn't WG upgrade the network when Arriva had the franchise?

as for your comments, utter nonsense. Everyone understands that to upgrade the network there will be disruption. Except we aren't see the network upgraded, its taking an age, and services are suffering continuously.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

so why didn't WG upgrade the network when Arriva had the franchise?

as for your comments, utter nonsense. Everyone understands that to upgrade the network there will be disruption. Except we aren't see the network upgraded, its taking an age, and services are suffering continuously.

WG didn't have any control over the rail infrastructure, they took it over from Network Rail after the franchise with Keolis Amey was agreed. Upgrades are a part of franchise agreement. Why should the tax payer bail out a franchise that had no agreement to improve the network (which was the case)?

Has nothing been upgraded? Yes it'll take an age, but get a grip ffs you whinger.

[TWGL1]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

WG didn't have any control over the rail infrastructure, they took it over from Network Rail after the franchise with Keolis Amey was agreed. Upgrades are a part of franchise agreement. Why should the tax payer bail out a franchise that had no agreement to improve the network (which was the case)?

Has nothing been upgraded? Yes it'll take an age, but get a grip ffs you whinger.

The rolling stock TfW use for the Carmarthen to Manchester service had two carriages, overcrowded, not punctual, and is usually the same train as they use on the valley lines. Terrible service.

[Wozza16]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

It shows just how bad Arriva turned the network that it’s taken them this long to start make large changes. Westminster giving out a contact to them for 15 years with 0% growth requirement built in shows how much effort they put into a Welsh service.

I saw my old local station Pontypool is undergoing an upgrade, there are more on the way and a bunch of new trains.

I don’t live in Wales anymore so can someone tell me if there any positive signs of improvements across the wider network? (Ideally from somebody who isn’t gonna moan about everyone mildly related to the project).

[PontBlue]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

I'm on the rhymney line and the service has improved considerably for Sunday games. We've gone from one train every two hours which you could guarantee wasn't timed around kick off and full time to two trains per hour.

I never had any issues with Saturday or evening games or going into Cardiff for shopping under ATW. Rush hour is also now much better under tfw as trains almost always have capacity.

The new trains are also a vast improvement on the pacers.

However many won't want to hear this as it doesn't fit their agenda.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

I'm on the rhymney line and the service has improved considerably for Sunday games. We've gone from one train every two hours which you could guarantee wasn't timed around kick off and full time to two trains per hour.

I never had any issues with Saturday or evening games or going into Cardiff for shopping under ATW. Rush hour is also now much better under tfw as trains almost always have capacity.

The new trains are also a vast improvement on the pacers.

However many won't want to hear this as it doesn't fit their agenda.

What's the journey time from up there into Cardiff?

It starts at Ebbw vale ?

[Robin Friday's Ghost]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

What's the journey time from up there into Cardiff?

It starts at Ebbw vale ?

No, the Ebbw Vale line starts at Ebbw Vale. Different valley.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

No, the Ebbw Vale line starts at Ebbw Vale. Different valley.

So what's the journey time from the north of the south wales valleys into Cardiff

If the service is good and the journey time is reasonable then its a good start

[NinianOpinion1927]

Re: Welsh railway bosses admit they have traditionally focused more on rugby

Trickle down economics has been used by most of the west in the last 30/40 years. The rich have got richer and the poor have got poorer. Giving tax cuts to the rich and privatising public services is a terrible, terrible idea unless you’re extremely rich to begin with.

Our poor are still amongst the richest in the world though. That's the point of trickle down economics