On my trip onto the Cambrian last week, instead of 4 cars (2x158) from Birmingham International, dividing at Machynlleth, it was a 2-car class 150 shuttle between International and Shrewsbury, where passengers swapped trains to and from another 2-car Shrewsbury-Aberystwyth shuttle, with passengers for the Coast having to change yet again at Mach. The service is normally full and standing with 2x158 - the poor 150 was rammed before it left New Street, with people left behind at subsequent stations, significant station delays due to the overcrowding, the guard unable to get through the train, inaudible announcements so people were unaware the train was only going as far as Shrewsbury, and "every man for himself" at Shrewsbury with passengers desperately trying to swap between two short-formed trains. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident - something similar has happened on ALL my previous trips to and from the Cambrian this year, although this last trip was far and away the worst (previously the Shrewsbury shuttle has been something with slightly more capacity than a 150).
If TfW don't currently have enough stock to even run their existing services, I don't understand how on earth they are going to run anything more, such as the Chester - Liverpools in only two weeks' time. Something surely has to give. I am concerned that they will rob other services (such as the Cambrian) in order to provide the stock for these new services, to avoid the bad headlines if they fail to deliver these new services.