Train travel yesterday.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Having had my booster ten days ago, I decided to do what I wouldn’t have done before that and caught the train to yesterday’s game. I’d been wary of getting on a packed train at Ninian Park to travel to Cardiff central after the match, but it was just as bad on the train down from Treherbert - it was just two carriages and soon filled up to that extent that it was too crowded for many of those waiting at Llandaff station to get on.

Then, when I got off at Cardiff Central there were notices alerting travellers as to widespread cancellations on Valley Line trains which I learned was down to a lack of guards and it was impossible to tell whether scheduled trains would be running until about an hour before they were due to leave. I must admit that, with a train to Treherbert waiting to leave a few yards away from me, I was minded to jump on it and go straight back home, but I was assured that if I went to the game, I’d definitely be able to get home, but it maybe later than planned.

After the game, I decided to wait at the ground for a while and catch the second train to leave Ninian Park at a quarter to six only to find that the earlier one was cancelled and that turned out to be a bit of a waste of time, but the good news was that the scheduled train from Cardiff Central to Treherbert was running and, although crowded for much of the journey, it was as bad as the one to Cardiff had been earlier.

However, it seems to that a lack of guards hardly is something that would be seasonal brought on by Christmas (I suppose it might have something to do with Covid?) and so is it a normal occurrence now to have so many trains cancelled? If it is, it’s another case of things not working as well as they once did in this country (eg A and E in Cardiff, empty shelves in supermarkets, a shortage of lorry drivers, no power to people for nine days at least etc. etc) - is the UK slowly going to pot?

Much of it is down to Covid. There are similarities with the bus industry where there are driver shortages.

[JumpersforGoalposts]

I was on the train yesterday and did notice at Central post match that every "local" service was absolutely rammed.
What seems ridiculous to me is that with a shortage of staff and less services running they don't manage to get additional carriages onto the services that do run.

[the other bob wilson]

I was on the train yesterday and did notice at Central post match that every "local" service was absolutely rammed.
What seems ridiculous to me is that with a shortage of staff and less services running they don't manage to get additional carriages onto the services that do run.

[WJ99mobile]

Much of it is down to Covid. There are similarities with the bus industry where there are driver shortages.

I don't get it - is there ANY industry without shortages?