And Another One In Trouble - TfW

[LNW-GW Joint]

It appears TfW Rail Services (Keolis Amey) has been fined £2.3 million by the Welsh Government for poor performance since they took over the W&B franchise from Arriva in 2018.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-51049036

A train company contracted to run Transport for Wales services, KeolisAmey, has been fined £2.3m by the Welsh Government for poor performance.
Economy minister Ken Skates said the penalty notices were "vital", saying the company had not lived up to what was agreed.
Recent improvements must continue, he added. The company took over the £5bn franchise in October 2018.

KeolisAmey apologised for the disruption of the last few months.
It is not clear when the fines were imposed. Transport for Wales said it was a "overall sum" imposed over "different periods", with fines issued on a periodic basis.

They (KA) have a different relationship with TfW (the WG agency) than an "English" franchise has with DfT.
It seems the fine is due to loss of capacity, notably in the peaks, compared to what was contracted.
KA offer the usual reasons: low availability, need to upgrade and refurbish stock for PRM, excessive maintenance requirements and late delivery of cascaded stock from elsewhere.

This seems not to have the same "sack 'em" vibes as for Northern/TPE/WMT, probably because TfW are themselves involved in the decision-making over the W&B operation.
If anything, it is more under "public control" than any other franchise, bar maybe Merseyrail and the TfL TOCs.
But it can't be good news that KA are already on the back foot after the first year of a 15-year contract.

Maybe Arriva, who suffered much opprobrium in the later ATW years, will be enjoying a wry smile about the fate of their successor - if they were not in even deeper water themselves at Northern.

 

[Parallel]

The start of TfW has been underwhelming to say the least, but it is was always going to be an impossible situation by the time KA took over the franchise. The Welsh Government didn’t really offer any help in the lead up to the new franchise. PRM mods should have been started under Arriva (around the same time GWR started theirs). Perhaps the WG could have also ordered new stock before with the bidders factoring the cost into their bids.

The problem specifically with KeolisAmey is they’ve overpromised to passengers and the government (and continue to do so), so expectations have been set too high.

A search on twitter usually brings up plenty of posts saying that Transport for Wales is worse than Arriva Trains Wales, and I’d argue that most of it isn’t actually their fault, I’d also argue most of it also wasn’t Arriva’s fault, more the politics of the franchise.

It spoke volumes when Arriva withdrew their bid for the franchise, they knew more than anyone what challenges it would bring.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Perhaps the WG could have also ordered new stock before with the bidders factoring the cost into their bids.

To be fair the Welsh Government did order additional stock, the 769s. It's not their fault, nor TFW's, that the stock hasn't been delivered.

As for ordering brand new stock, that would have been difficult given that the bidders were asked to offer their own suggestions for modernising the system. Much of the stock required by MTR who proposed converting large parts of the sysem to light rail wouldn't have been suitable for Keolis Amey.

 

[Edders23]

To be fair the Welsh Government did order additional stock, the 769s. It's not their fault, nor TFW's, that the stock hasn't been delivered.

As for ordering brand new stock, that would have been difficult given that the bidders were asked to offer their own suggestions for modernising the system. Much of the stock required by MTR who proposed converting large parts of the sysem to light rail wouldn't have been suitable for Keolis Amey.

so whose fault is it if you are putting an order in you are also specifying delivery times and training/ in service times with penalty clauses for the supplier if these are missed did that happen ?

 

[CambrianCoast]

Whilst poor performance isn’t acceptable where people’s daily lives and routines are hindered enormously from what is extensively documented on social media, I can’t help but also feel on the flip side, playing devil’s advocate, that Keolis Amey have been dealt a bit of a poor hand both in terms of the WG / TFW franchise specifications and the predecessor “no growth” contract that Arriva operated. Whilst Arriva were well within their contractual rights to not do anything more, other than provide a few extra parking spaces (if I remember rightly) in their franchise agreement back in 2003. Passenger figures have soared to unprecedented levels as we all know.

So I feel Keolis Amey are now having to work and invest in trying to reverse 15 years of no growth, no investment in stations, services and rolling stock. It does feel like a little bit of political grandstanding from Ken Skates in light of problems at other TOCs in the UK.

If we cast our minds back to the days of Central Trains, Northwestern Trains / First North Western, Wales & West, Wales and Borders, Valley Lines etc who were some of the first ever post-privatisation TOCs, I can’t remember any grand investments from them either in terms of quality other than the introduction of the Class 175s in north Wales, so it could be argued that the railway in Wales has been underfunded, neglected and left to rot for over 30+ years when considering public and private operation / ownership.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but this does feel like a completely different kettle of fish to the publicised problems with other TOCs across the UK at the moment.

It could be argued that initial expectations have been set too high but on the other hand, people are often too quick to judge when in reality it’s only just over 12 months since the new franchise started and frankly, as the old saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day!

 

[allaction]

Although Rome wasn’t built in a day, the present passenger facilities at Roman Bridge possibly were...

 

[Cardiff123]

Whilst the problems Keolis Amey have with running a totally knackered and life expired fleet are not their fault, along with the non-delivery of replacement trains such as the 230s and 769s, I can't remember a December and Christmas/NY period ever being as bad as the one just gone under ATW for numbers of cancellations and part-cancellations, which was undoubtedly down to a lack of guards/drivers. The rolling stock problems might not be KA's fault, but making sure you have enough staff to run a full service is, surely?
Considering the recruitment drive for train crew they've been on for the past year as well.

 

[krus_aragon]

Although Rome wasn’t built in a day, the present passenger facilities at Roman Bridge possibly were...

The ones at Dolgarrog certainly haven't: the Orange Army have been working there for months!

 

[CambrianCoast]

Although Rome wasn’t built in a day, the present passenger facilities at Roman Bridge possibly were...

Haha! Good old Roman Bridge

 

[CambrianCoast]

Whilst the problems Keolis Amey have with running a totally knackered and life expired fleet are not their fault, along with the non-delivery of replacement trains such as the 230s and 769s, I can't remember a December and Christmas/NY period ever being as bad as the one just gone under ATW for numbers of cancellations and part-cancellations, which was undoubtedly down to a lack of guards/drivers. The rolling stock problems might not be KA's fault, but making sure you have enough staff to run a full service is, surely?
Considering the recruitment drive for train crew they've been on for the past year as well.

A fair point well made, however we have no idea how many of those recruited actually made the cut as I’m led to believe that constant assessments from start to finish of training could mean falling at the last hurdle... Someone who works in industry may be able to correct me on that point?

What I find a little unfair is, the WG / TFW have stipulated that all trains rightly should be refreshed internally and rebranded externally. Now, to make that happen, as we all know, the trains obviously need to come out of service unless they expected a reformat of 60 minute makeover whilst the train is on the move!!

To try and alleviate capacity issues, Keolis Amey have from what can be seen and referenced on their Twitter feed, tried as much as possible to source stock in the interim to combat overcrowding in south east Wales, again, taking staff off to learn the workings of “new” trains. So to me, I don’t understand how the WG can claim Keolis Amey’s performance is poor because you can’t give with one hand without taking away with the other to actually make it work to make things better. Seems baffling.

Whilst I acknowledge, poor staffing allocation may have played a significant role in the problems over Christmas and new year, I can’t help but feel this is a little harsh on the other hand, as everyone has a right to paid leave and understandably, people want to take time off to be with friends, family and loved ones over Christmas so a tricky one to balance I suppose.

 

[PHILIPE]

All this has proved detrimental to Ken Skate's "World Class" Railway". There is an article in the local paper most days now regarding TFW's performance and the latest Twitter reply is "There were operational challenges" on that particular day but it happens most day with "Congestion" as a frequent reason for delays. Anyway, TFW were dealt a bad deal, especially left to do PRM Mods on 36 x 150s in a restricted time period.

 

[RealTrains07]

It appears TfW Rail Services (Keolis Amey) has been fined £2.3 million by the Welsh Government for poor performance since they took over the W&B franchise from Arriva in 2018.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-51049036

They (KA) have a different relationship with TfW (the WG agency) than an "English" franchise has with DfT.
It seems the fine is due to loss of capacity, notably in the peaks, compared to what was contracted.
KA offer the usual reasons: low availability, need to upgrade and refurbish stock for PRM, excessive maintenance requirements and late delivery of cascaded stock from elsewhere.

This seems not to have the same "sack 'em" vibes as for Northern/TPE/WMT, probably because TfW are themselves involved in the decision-making over the W&B operation.
If anything, it is more under "public control" than any other franchise, bar maybe Merseyrail and the TfL TOCs.
But it can't be good news that KA are already on the back foot after the first year of a 15-year contract.

Maybe Arriva, who suffered much opprobrium in the later ATW years, will be enjoying a wry smile about the fate of their successor - if they were not in even deeper water themselves at Northern.

Another reason why the PRM mods are too ridiculous to achieve for them.

If franchise changeover happens just over a year or even less before the deadline. What did they expect would happen that KA could easily turn things around and have everything compliant?!

It isnt KAs fault TfW failed in that area, they were dealt a poor hand like another franchise was recently

 

[Cardiff123]

To try and alleviate capacity issues, Keolis Amey have from what can be seen and referenced on their Twitter feed, tried as much as possible to source stock in the interim to combat overcrowding in south east Wales, again, taking staff off to learn the workings of “new” trains. So to me, I don’t understand how the WG can claim Keolis Amey’s performance is poor because you can’t give with one hand without taking away with the other to actually make it work to make things better. Seems baffling.

If whenever new or extra trains are introduced, training up crew on them means inevitable cancellations to normal timetabled services, passengers in Wales are in for lots and lots of disruption over the next 5 years

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

If whenever new or extra trains are introduced, training up crew on them means inevitable cancellations to normal timetabled services, passengers in Wales are in for lots and lots of disruption over the next 5 years

At least the SW main line electrification disruption is now over.
Weekends have been particularly bad for a long time because of that.
But then there's WG's own Valleys electrification to come, as well as all the new trains.

Another factor for TfW is that the WG/union agreement on retaining guards means that industrial action has been much less than on some DfT franchises.
But there have still been crewing issues and resulting cancellations.

 

[CambrianCoast]

If whenever new or extra trains are introduced, training up crew on them means inevitable cancellations to normal timetabled services, passengers in Wales are in for lots and lots of disruption over the next 5 years

I know, that’s what I said

 

[talltim]

KA might have been dealt a bad hand, but they knew this when they signed the contract. They shouldn’t have agreed to so much so soon. They also haven’t had the compressed time for training issues with new stock running late that the Northern/TPE/GA have had as theirs is so late that it hasn’t arrived yet so really they have no excuse for lack of staff

 

[Anonymous10]

I know, that’s what I said

West Wales lines will probably be hit to replace Swansea Crews then

 

[Caaardiff]

The biggest issue KA faced was the delays to 230s and 769s but it would be interesting to see how different things would be if they had been received and if the progress on PRM mods would've been much different. The class37s were brought in for peak services which means that outside of peak times short forming could've been done to better utilise the fleet. Fewer 150s are being used up North now with the new timetable but the new 153s have brought in extra issues. I'm told all of the GWR 153s have these driving time restrictions on which means they can't be used on most routes suitable for 153s. This info is from a driver friend so not sure how much truth there is in it but from what im told they are limited to the Bay shuttle and Ebbw Vales, and maesteg to Cheltenham if attached to a pacer or 150. This is because drivers have kicked up a fuss about the layout of the cab, some of which are actually similar to old ATW 153s that have been driven without issue for years!
Theres also other upgrade programs on going that could've been postponed such as the 175 upgrades, they are already PRM compliant, its just internal refresh meaning one unit out of action at a time. Similarly some 158s are going in for paint works. All of which are needing 150s to cover. Granted there may have been contracts or slots to meet, but they aren't a necessity.
From reading twitter it seems the biggest gripe is over promising and although TfW/KA have had some very bad luck, had they been more realistic in the promises then the public would've been less annoyed.
Looking forward, I can't see how things will improve in the short term. Even if 769s and 230s arrive soon there still a mammoth training task ahead to actually get them in to service. Until that happens no PRM mods can be accelerated above the level that is happening now. Next thing we know it'll be dispensation deadline time.
Looking back it might've been better to bite the bullet and cut a few services to allocate units elsewhere.
Also whoever thought a major timetable change, with increased services, new train crews still in training or not even recruited, a busy christmas season and higher than average sickness/overtime not being taken needs a serious talking to. Whether its industry standard or not, January would have been a much better time with less disruption.

 

[anamyd]

I'm told all of the GWR 153s have these driving time restrictions on which means they can't be used on most routes suitable for 153s.

Ahh, so that's what it is... The delivery train on the 1/4/19 was driven from either 153325 or 153333 (dewrapped to tatty ex-London Midland green), those 2 on the front with the 3 blue & pink ones on the back, so I wonder how they managed to run from Exeter TMD to Canton with the time limit - I'm guessing it was somehow temporarily bypassed...? Does anyone know why they had even had such a thing installed under FGW/GWR...? Had it been to restrict them to Looe-Liskeard...?

 

[craigybagel]

Whilst the problems Keolis Amey have with running a totally knackered and life expired fleet are not their fault, along with the non-delivery of replacement trains such as the 230s and 769s, I can't remember a December and Christmas/NY period ever being as bad as the one just gone under ATW for numbers of cancellations and part-cancellations, which was undoubtedly down to a lack of guards/drivers. The rolling stock problems might not be KA's fault, but making sure you have enough staff to run a full service is, surely?
Considering the recruitment drive for train crew they've been on for the past year as well.

A fair point well made, however we have no idea how many of those recruited actually made the cut as I’m led to believe that constant assessments from start to finish of training could mean falling at the last hurdle... Someone who works in industry may be able to correct me on that point?

There has indeed been a massive recruitment drive, but bear in mind how long it takes for the benefits of it to be seen. Depending on various factors it can take from 9 months to over a year for a new driver to complete the training and be productive. The drivers passing out at the moment started the recruitment process under ATW, that's how long it takes! And at the same time, there have been quite a few stay leaving, either through retirement, promotion, or moving to other TOCs. For example one depot in the North lost a fifth of its drivers over the course of a year. It takes a while to fill those vacancies but TfW are trying their best.

Thankfully however in answer to the question posed above, whilst trainees do occasionally fail, the pass rate is very high. An exceptionally challenging and thorough recruitment process sees to that!

All this has proved detrimental to Ken Skate's "World Class" Railway". There is an article in the local paper most days now regarding TFW's performance and the latest Twitter reply is "There were operational challenges" on that particular day but it happens most day with "Congestion" as a frequent reason for delays. Anyway, TFW were dealt a bad deal, especially left to do PRM Mods on 36 x 150s in a restricted time period.

Another reason why the PRM mods are too ridiculous to achieve for them.

If franchise changeover happens just over a year or even less before the deadline. What did they expect would happen that KA could easily turn things around and have everything compliant?!

It isnt KAs fault TfW failed in that area, they were dealt a poor hand like another franchise was recently

Very true. The Welsh assembly stuck their heads in the sand over the looming PRM issue for years, and this is the result. It didn't matter which company won the franchise, they would always have to deal with same impossibility. Too many trains to modify and too little time to do it in.

If whenever new or extra trains are introduced, training up crew on them means inevitable cancellations to normal timetabled services, passengers in Wales are in for lots and lots of disruption over the next 5 years

By the time the new fleet arrives their should be a lot more staff around to deal with it, much more so then today. The current level of recruitment is going beyond merely replacing staff, it is increasing the headcount by quite a large amount.

I'm told all of the GWR 153s have these driving time restrictions on which means they can't be used on most routes suitable for 153s. This info is from a driver friend so not sure how much truth there is in it but from what im told they are limited to the Bay shuttle and Ebbw Vales, and maesteg to Cheltenham if attached to a pacer or 150. This is because drivers have kicked up a fuss about the layout of the cab, some of which are actually similar to old ATW 153s that have been driven without issue for years!.

It is not an issue with the layout, but an issue with certain equipment in the cab that is different from that fitted to the former ATW sets. There is a very good reason for the restrictions on their use, but it's also a relatively simple fix.

 

[anamyd]

It is not an issue with the layout, but an issue with certain equipment in the cab that is different from that fitted to the former ATW sets. There is a very good reason for the restrictions on their use, but it's also a relatively simple fix.

Just to be clear, is the very good reason you speak of the reason for the driving time restrictions mentioned by @Caaardiff and I in posts 18 and 19, or those driving time restrictions themselves...?

 

[markymark2000]

What I find a little unfair is, the WG / TFW have stipulated that all trains rightly should be refreshed internally and rebranded externally. Now, to make that happen, as we all know, the trains obviously need to come out of service unless they expected a reformat of 60 minute makeover whilst the train is on the move!!

I thought they set up a production line on the North Wales Coast. Just after Flint, they pass through a tunnel of white paint then at Prestatyn and Rhyl, they are met by people putting the vinyls on, one side at PRestatyn and the other at Flint

It's funny really how long it takes to repaint a train yet franchises keep changing their liveries.

 

[ValleyLines142]

My issue with TfW is that whilst I completely understand that they have chronic stock shortages, they aren't very resourceful with what they do have and before any says 'well it's not their fault they've had to take over from ATW', yes I agree it was never going to be an easy ride for them but equally I never experienced this said lack of resourcefulness (I don't even know if resourcefulness is a word, but it is now!).

It comes down to silly things like unnecessary set swaps in the middle of the afternoon. Four times last week on my daily commute from Cathays to Waun-Gron Park, I had made the change at Queen Street but was then told that I would have to get off at Central for 'operational purposes', and was told that the replacement set was already at Central waiting for us when in actual fact, it wasn't. Out of two of those four occasions, the first time an announcement wasn't even made on board and upon arrival at Central my train magically turned into a Bargoed train and we went back up to Queen Street and the second time even the crew weren't told until they arrived at Central. More annoyingly in the latter, the replacement unit for the Radyr was actually the Merthyr to Bridgend train, so it would have come straight from Cathays and I could have got a through train home. In that situation, I was getting three trains home, one from Cathays to Queen Street, another to Central (and what should have been direct to Waun-Gron Park) and then another on from there; catching three trains for a 20 minute commute is just bonkers. It's got to the stage where I just stay on from Cathays to Central as I can't trust them anymore.

What particularly annoyed me the most was that the swaps were of no valid reason. I understand I don't work for the railways, but the City Line (xx:36 from Central) became the Bridgend (xx:41) and then vice versa, but how can a train due to arrive at Central at xx:41 for Bridgend form the City Line at xx:36, without travelling back in time? Also, they were both two carriage Pacers, so I'm unsure what the reason was. It wasn't as if they were putting a 153 on the City Line for the afternoon, which would make more sense as the Pacer would probably be better utilised elsewhere.

Another absolutely stupid plan (I'm not sure if it still occurs because I refuse to use that timed service with how delayed it gets) is the 07:55 Barry Island to Merthyr train (which is uderstandably SEVERELY overcrowded, even for a 4 car). At Central, they split, so that the front two go onto Merthyr (08:26) and the rear two go onto Bargoed (08:31). It was wild trying to split them as hundreds of passengers would have to ensure they were in the right portion. Many regular commuters complained on Twitter but TFW just said it was part of 'protecting the fleet'. In that two week window I was catching that service up to Cathays, it was departing 15 minutes late on a daily basis.

It's silly little things like this that irritate me. The 08:12 from Waun-Gron is regularly a 153 and people are left behind at Ninian Park. Why not make that a Pacer and make an earlier service the 153 instead? Yes they're limited on stock but it's about allocating the right number of carriages at the right time. People being left behind at suburban stations in the 10th largest city in the country at rush hour because of single carriage trains is pretty diabolical.

So in short, I'm not surprised they've been fined such a hefty sum. I just hope that this year they start making use of the limited stock they've got, make resourceful choices and actually think about the effects these choices have instead of just 'doing it' and hoping for the best.

 

[Parallel]

The one thing that I wish they’d stop doing is using “resource availability” as the reason for cancelled trains. This seems to be a new reason that no other TOC use, that I imagine management has made them use. Wasn’t the whole point of changing the delay reasons to make it easier for the public to understand? What’s more, when you’re at a station it actually gives you the specific reason for the cancellation, which is either usually ‘a broken down train’, ‘a shortage of train crew/conductors/drivers’ and ‘more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time’, not the somewhat woolly or ambiguous ‘resource availability’

 

[Anonymous10]

The one thing that I wish they’d stop doing is using “resource availability” as the reason for cancelled trains. This seems to be a new reason that no other TOC use, that I imagine management has made them use. Wasn’t the whole point of changing the delay reasons to make it easier for the public to understand? What’s more, when you’re at a station it actually gives you the specific reason for the cancellation, which is either usually ‘a broken down train’, ‘a shortage of train crew/conductors/drivers’ and ‘more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time’, not the somewhat woolly or ambiguous ‘resource availability’

No doubt problems with trains again pacer in West Wales which usually is 150/153

 

[WelshBluebird]

I mean, yes TfW have been dealt a bad hand and there is a lot of blame on ATW, the WG, etc etc. But one think the TfW have only themselves to blame is for over promising and under delivering on things that are 100% in their control. For example their website still states that all South Wales Metro area stations will have ticket machines by April 2019. Almost a year on from that date, has that happened? Of course it hasn't.

 

[Caaardiff]

Ahh, so that's what it is... The delivery train on the 1/4/19 was driven from either 153325 or 153333 (dewrapped to tatty ex-London Midland green), those 2 on the front with the 3 blue & pink ones on the back, so I wonder how they managed to run from Exeter TMD to Canton with the time limit - I'm guessing it was somehow temporarily bypassed...? Does anyone know why they had even had such a thing installed under FGW/GWR...? Had it been to restrict them to Looe-Liskeard...?

They weren't driven by TfW drivers. At least not on the English part as they wouldn't sign the route.
Weren't all the 153's delivered at that time owned by GWR? Just with old liveries? They all arrived with the same cab layout.

It is not an issue with the layout, but an issue with certain equipment in the cab that is different from that fitted to the former ATW sets. There is a very good reason for the restrictions on their use, but it's also a relatively simple fix.

I'm told it's the type of seats as well as the desk layout. Which begs the question why was it OK on one or two of the old ATW 153's which is the same layout as the GWR ones which arrived and why were they OK for Central trains/GWR to use? It's another barrier put up by train crew. Had it been just the GWR ones then fair enough, but the layouts had already been in use for years on some of the ATW ones.

No doubt problems with trains again pacer in West Wales which usually is 150/153

Pacers are diagrammed for West Wales at the moment. It's probably best to send the Pacers west at the moment, freeing up 150's for the Valleys which have more capacity if running around as a single unit.

The one thing that I wish they’d stop doing is using “resource availability” as the reason for cancelled trains. This seems to be a new reason that no other TOC use, that I imagine management has made them use. Wasn’t the whole point of changing the delay reasons to make it easier for the public to understand? What’s more, when you’re at a station it actually gives you the specific reason for the cancellation, which is either usually ‘a broken down train’, ‘a shortage of train crew/conductors/drivers’ and ‘more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time’, not the somewhat woolly or ambiguous ‘resource availability’

Another management bright idea. Apparently unions kicked up a fuss at "shortage of train crew" being used, because there wasn't a shortage of train crew (as in the number employed). There was a high rate of sickness (?) over the Christmas period and less people taking overtime, meaning "less resources available". Seems to be the common reason used at the moment for most delays which probably isn't accurate.

Just to be clear, is the very good reason you speak of the reason for the driving time restrictions mentioned by @Caaardiff and I in posts 18 and 19, or those driving time restrictions themselves...?

Not quite sure what you mean here, but the reason for the driving time restriction is the cab layout as drivers require a break after a certain amount of time, reduced because of the layout.

 

[PHILIPE]

My issue with TfW is that whilst I completely understand that they have chronic stock shortages, they aren't very resourceful with what they do have and before any says 'well it's not their fault they've had to take over from ATW', yes I agree it was never going to be an easy ride for them but equally I never experienced this said lack of resourcefulness (I don't even know if resourcefulness is a word, but it is now!).

It comes down to silly things like unnecessary set swaps in the middle of the afternoon. Four times last week on my daily commute from Cathays to Waun-Gron Park, I had made the change at Queen Street but was then told that I would have to get off at Central for 'operational purposes', and was told that the replacement set was already at Central waiting for us when in actual fact, it wasn't. Out of two of those four occasions, the first time an announcement wasn't even made on board and upon arrival at Central my train magically turned into a Bargoed train and we went back up to Queen Street and the second time even the crew weren't told until they arrived at Central. More annoyingly in the latter, the replacement unit for the Radyr was actually the Merthyr to Bridgend train, so it would have come straight from Cathays and I could have got a through train home. In that situation, I was getting three trains home, one from Cathays to Queen Street, another to Central (and what should have been direct to Waun-Gron Park) and then another on from there; catching three trains for a 20 minute commute is just bonkers. It's got to the stage where I just stay on from Cathays to Central as I can't trust them anymore.

What particularly annoyed me the most was that the swaps were of no valid reason. I understand I don't work for the railways, but the City Line (xx:36 from Central) became the Bridgend (xx:41) and then vice versa, but how can a train due to arrive at Central at xx:41 for Bridgend form the City Line at xx:36, without travelling back in time? Also, they were both two carriage Pacers, so I'm unsure what the reason was. It wasn't as if they were putting a 153 on the City Line for the afternoon, which would make more sense as the Pacer would probably be better utilised elsewhere.

Another absolutely stupid plan (I'm not sure if it still occurs because I refuse to use that timed service with how delayed it gets) is the 07:55 Barry Island to Merthyr train (which is uderstandably SEVERELY overcrowded, even for a 4 car). At Central, they split, so that the front two go onto Merthyr (08:26) and the rear two go onto Bargoed (08:31). It was wild trying to split them as hundreds of passengers would have to ensure they were in the right portion. Many regular commuters complained on Twitter but TFW just said it was part of 'protecting the fleet'. In that two week window I was catching that service up to Cathays, it was departing 15 minutes late on a daily basis.

It's silly little things like this that irritate me. The 08:12 from Waun-Gron is regularly a 153 and people are left behind at Ninian Park. Why not make that a Pacer and make an earlier service the 153 instead? Yes they're limited on stock but it's about allocating the right number of carriages at the right time. People being left behind at suburban stations in the 10th largest city in the country at rush hour because of single carriage trains is pretty diabolical.

So in short, I'm not surprised they've been fined such a hefty sum. I just hope that this year they start making use of the limited stock they've got, make resourceful choices and actually think about the effects these choices have instead of just 'doing it' and hoping for the best.

It may not be so pointless as it looks to the outsider if you were totally conversant with diagramming and allocation and trying to keep the job going and making the best use of resources. Swaps may have to be to get units onto jobs to position them for exams or insufficient fuel to see the day out. The reasons are endless but they are done for a good cause.

 

[PHILIPE]

The biggest issue KA faced was the delays to 230s and 769s but it would be interesting to see how different things would be if they had been received and if the progress on PRM mods would've been much different. The class37s were brought in for peak services which means that outside of peak times short forming could've been done to better utilise the fleet. Fewer 150s are being used up North now with the new timetable but the new 153s have brought in extra issues. I'm told all of the GWR 153s have these driving time restrictions on which means they can't be used on most routes suitable for 153s. This info is from a driver friend so not sure how much truth there is in it but from what im told they are limited to the Bay shuttle and Ebbw Vales, and maesteg to Cheltenham if attached to a pacer or 150. This is because drivers have kicked up a fuss about the layout of the cab, some of which are actually similar to old ATW 153s that have been driven without issue for years!
Theres also other upgrade programs on going that could've been postponed such as the 175 upgrades, they are already PRM compliant, its just internal refresh meaning one unit out of action at a time. Similarly some 158s are going in for paint works. All of which are needing 150s to cover. Granted there may have been contracts or slots to meet, but they aren't a necessity.
From reading twitter it seems the biggest gripe is over promising and although TfW/KA have had some very bad luck, had they been more realistic in the promises then the public would've been less annoyed.
Looking forward, I can't see how things will improve in the short term. Even if 769s and 230s arrive soon there still a mammoth training task ahead to actually get them in to service. Until that happens no PRM mods can be accelerated above the level that is happening now. Next thing we know it'll be dispensation deadline time.
Looking back it might've been better to bite the bullet and cut a few services to allocate units elsewhere.
Also whoever thought a major timetable change, with increased services, new train crews still in training or not even recruited, a busy christmas season and higher than average sickness/overtime not being taken needs a serious talking to. Whether its industry standard or not, January would have been a much better time with less disruption.

Just to clarify a couple of points, ex GWR 153s have been to Blaenau Ffestiniog and there was one on the Crewe to Chester local yesterday. I don't know what the current position is but a TFW promise was that any modifications to the cabs would be completed by June last year. Just another promise ?
The Timetable start date is set in stone across Europe, whether anything will change after Brexit who knows. Even in the UK, it would have to be universal and one TOC couldn't do it's own thing because of all the pathing interfaces for one thing.

 

[tomwills98]

Performance has been crap across a number of routes but I'm hoping it picks up when all of the new stock arrives. What I don't get is the WAG said they will reinvest it into train services. So they've fined us, but will give the money back to us in improvements?

It's silly little things like this that irritate me. The 08:12 from Waun-Gron is regularly a 153 and people are left behind at Ninian Park. Why not make that a Pacer and make an earlier service the 153 instead? Yes they're limited on stock but it's about allocating the right number of carriages at the right time. People being left behind at suburban stations in the 10th largest city in the country at rush hour because of single carriage trains is pretty diabolical.

You've just answered your own question.