TfW restoring most of its pre-March 2020 TT from 13/9

[wobman]

It's the first full capacity rugby match since before March 2020 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff this Saturday. TfW are running adverts across their social media telling passengers to plan in advance, expect trains to be busy, wear face coverings etc.

Could we see trains cancelled in the north to strengthen services on the Valleys and in the south? I can't see the usual 2 car 150s that are standard on the Valleys now being enough capacity on such a big match day.
I guess the other Q is will services run at all though, or will we see train crew booking the weekend off and cancellations due to "resource availability" being a big issue this weekend?

They may just get lots of buses and coaches to move the people about, that's what TFW do in the North when it's busy.
There was 2 car sets in the summer on the N Wales coast and leaving up to 100 holiday makers behind at stations on most runs.
So there was just fleets of buses used, the North always suffers when there's an event in Cardiff but it's never the other way round.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

It's the first full capacity rugby match since before March 2020 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff this Saturday. TfW are running adverts across their social media telling passengers to plan in advance, expect trains to be busy, wear face coverings etc.

Could we see trains cancelled in the north to strengthen services on the Valleys and in the south? I can't see the usual 2 car 150s that are standard on the Valleys now being enough capacity on such a big match day.
I guess the other Q is will services run at all though, or will we see train crew booking the weekend off and cancellations due to "resource availability" being a big issue this weekend?

It would be a very unwise to try and cancel any of the trains in the North.

Due to the large numbers travelling from North Wales to the rugby they normally have to put on extra services including loco hauled services from Holyhead to cope with the crowds.

 

[Llandudno]

It would be a very unwise to try and cancel any of the trains in the North.

Due to the large numbers travelling from North Wales to the rugby they normally have to put on extra services including loco hauled services from Holyhead to cope with the crowds.

It also the last weekend of the half term break, Liverpool, Man City and Wrexham FC all at home on Saturday eastbound trains from the north Wales coast will be rammed and passengers will be left behind at Prestatyn, Flint and Shotton as per usual!

Therefore, I will be travelling by car again…!

 

[Starmill]

It's the first full capacity rugby match since before March 2020 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff this Saturday. TfW are running adverts across their social media telling passengers to plan in advance, expect trains to be busy, wear face coverings etc.

Could we see trains cancelled in the north to strengthen services on the Valleys and in the south? I can't see the usual 2 car 150s that are standard on the Valleys now being enough capacity on such a big match day.
I guess the other Q is will services run at all though, or will we see train crew booking the weekend off and cancellations due to "resource availability" being a big issue this weekend?

There are quite a few additional services to Cardiff early in the day and from Cardiff late in the day being run by GWR. A 2106 for Newport, Bristol Parkway, Filton Abbey Wood and Bristol Temple Meads is quite clever for example. There's also an evening one from Cardiff Central for main stations to Swansea. In the morning there are two from London Paddington (and so on), and two starting at Port Talbot Parkway and picking up also at Bridgend.

 

[wobman]

It also the last weekend of the half term break, Liverpool, Man City and Wrexham FC all at home on Saturday eastbound trains from the north Wales coast will be rammed and passengers will be left behind at Prestatyn, Flint and Shotton as per usual!

Therefore, I will be travelling by car again…!

Nobody seems to put pressure on Avanti to bring back their services and strengthen their services on the N Wales coast.
They seem to get away with little criticism on social media, TFW are running as many services in the north as they can.

The 197's are coming into service soon, which will be a godsend for TFW and it's passengers.

 

[Cardiff123]

As predicted, already there are 23 full cancellations and 30 part cancellations showing on journey check for tomorrow, nearly all on the Valleys, cancelled due to "resource availability", including the last Cardiff to Rhymney service of the night. I pity the frontline staff that will have to deal with angry drunk rugby fans when they find out their last train home is cancelled whilst queing outside Central station.

This along with no doubt the Severn tunnel still being closed..........

 

[PHILIPE]

As predicted, already there are 23 full cancellations and 30 part cancellations showing on journey check for tomorrow, nearly all on the Valleys, cancelled due to "resource availability", including the last Cardiff to Rhymney service of the night. I pity the frontline staff that will have to deal with angry drunk rugby fans when they find out their last train home is cancelled whilst queing outside Central station.

This along with no doubt the Severn tunnel still being closed..........

Severn`Tunnel reopened

 

[woolos]

The last train after the game to Ebbw vale is 2134 so surrporter will really have to trains to get home.
In December timetable they have put the last tilrain there back to 2234 30 minutes earlier then before corvid
.

 

[Max]

Mass cancellations again across Cardiff suburban and Valley Lines tonight due to "resource availability", and it seems to be getting worse and more frequent. Patience definitely wearing thin on Twitter tonight.

 

[Cardiff123]

Mass cancellations again across Cardiff suburban and Valley Lines tonight due to "resource availability", and it seems to be getting worse and more frequent. Patience definitely wearing thin on Twitter tonight.

I actually feel sorry for the people on Twitter who have to remain calm with their replies in the face of a barrage of angry customers, and being forced to reply with this ridiculous "resource availability" management speak jargon, that just angers the passengers even more. When you're stuck on a cold, dark platform you just want the honest reason why you're train is delayed or cancelled. Judging from the replies it seems most passengers have worked out that "resource availability" means a lack of drivers and/or guards anyway.

Maybe TfW need to go back to their Covid timetable if they don't have the staff to run the new full timetable.

Mass cancellations again across Cardiff suburban and Valley Lines tonight due to "resource availability", and it seems to be getting worse and more frequent. Patience definitely wearing thin on Twitter tonight.

The same, if not more disruption on the network tonight, again centred on the City line, Coryton, Barry & Bridgend via the VoG, & the Valleys. 48 full cancellations at time of writing.
Will TfW have enough staff to run a viable service tomorrow to get people to & from the rugby?

The next appearance of James Price in front of the Senedd committee that's now responsible for scrutinising devolved transport policy in Wales, (which I think is the newly formed Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure committee) will be interesting to watch............

 

[Anonymous10]

I actually feel sorry for the people on Twitter who have to remain calm with their replies in the face of a barrage of angry customers, and being forced to reply with this ridiculous "resource availability" management speak jargon, that just angers the passengers even more. When you're stuck on a cold, dark platform you just want the honest reason why you're train is delayed or cancelled. Judging from the replies it seems most passengers have worked out that "resource availability" means a lack of drivers and/or guards anyway.

Maybe TfW need to go back to their Covid timetable if they don't have the staff to run the new full timetable.


The same, if not more disruption on the network tonight, again centred on the City line, Coryton, Barry & Bridgend via the VoG, & the Valleys. 48 full cancellations at time of writing.
Will TfW have enough staff to run a viable service tomorrow to get people to & from the rugby?

The next appearance of James Price in front of the Senedd committee that's now responsible for scrutinising devolved transport policy in Wales, (which I think is the newly formed Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure committee) will be interesting to watch............

also from December west wales sees a more full timetable i believe i will watch that with great interest

 

[anthony263]

1719 to Bridgend from Taff's well was cancelled last night

 

[Cardiff123]

So TfW are introducing a new emergency TT from Weds 22nd Dec, so they can maintain a 'reliable' service in the face anticipated mass staff absence due to the Omicron Covid variant.

Surprisingly, there's no change to frequencies on the Valley lines, which i'm surprised at as TfW can barely maintain the current timetabled services on the VL. I would've expected TfW to go back to the pre-September Covid TT everywhere in Wales as they are struggling so much to maintain services.

Train timetables | Transport for Wales

Transport for Wales | Buy Cheap Train Tickets and Check Train Times

tfw.wales

 

[mrd269697]

They haven’t even released the timetable that was supposed to start on the 13th. And this new emergency timetable there’s no links to it.

 

[berneyarms]

It's only available through the journey planner on the tfw site.

You can see the timetables for Welsh routes introduced from the 13th at the link below, which is the regularly updated eNational Rail Timetable:

Index of /nrt/dec2021

Use the index at the top to check which table you need.

 

[woolos]

Walesonline have a list of some of the trains cancel.

 

[Dai Corner]

Walesonline have a list of some of the trains cancel.

Journeycheck is currently showing 47 cancellations, 20 alterations (mostly part-cancellations) and 49 formation changes (all short-forms I think).

 

[wobman]

Nobody's telling the travelling public, the trains are busy

 

[Max]

Any intel on if/when the Dec '21 service will be restored? Starting to get a bit frustrated with some of the random gaps in the morning peak service on my local line (Penarth), which leave me with long waits at Cardiff Central or alternatively (and more often) a very early start.

 

[Anonymous10]

Any intel on if/when the Dec '21 service will be restored? Starting to get a bit frustrated with some of the random gaps in the morning peak service on my local line (Penarth), which leave me with long waits at Cardiff Central or alternatively (and more often) a very early start.

may tt change i believe

 

[mrd269697]

Appears to be going back to pre covid timetable according to real-time trains. The evening journey back on the Conwy Valley, the Llandudno-Manchesters back, the peak journeys on the heart of wales ect. I think some more towards Fishguard too. Some extras on some lines. Bidston to Wrexham has an earlier departure from Bidston (at 0554) and two more evening departures, giving a full hourly service all day. Still not the half hourly service promised last year, mind.

 

[WelshBluebird]

What are the random gaps about anyway? I can understand the services that are still on a reduced regular frequency, but its the seemingly random omissions in otherwise regular services that I don't get. As an example Treherbert - Cardiff Central is pretty much back to half hourly now which is great, but there are some odd gaps like the fact the 12.46 service is currently missing (it does look like its back after the May change though).

 

[Pat Figg]

Some of the 'random' gaps are at very inconvenient and annoying times. Aberdare mostly has its half hourly service restored but the 07.21 downwards (obviously popular with commuters) is missing. Worse still, in the afternoon two consecutive services upwards to Aberdare are missing, meaning there are no trains from Cardiff Central to Aberdare between 15.11 and 16.41. Not ideal!

When I checked Realtime Trains yesterday the 07.21 was showing for next week but it's disappeared again now. The afternoon trains for next week are showing at the moment but I wouldn't be surprised if they've gone by the weekend.

 

[realemil]

Appears to be going back to pre covid timetable according to real-time trains. The evening journey back on the Conwy Valley, the Llandudno-Manchesters back, the peak journeys on the heart of wales ect. I think some more towards Fishguard too. Some extras on some lines. Bidston to Wrexham has an earlier departure from Bidston (at 0554) and two more evening departures, giving a full hourly service all day. Still not the half hourly service promised last year, mind.

However, the late-night Birmingham - Holyhead service has been scrapped, unfortunately.

1D19 2254 Birmingham New Street to Holyhead

If only they retimed it so it matched with the ferry, would've been a great service.

 

[craigybagel]

However, the late-night Birmingham - Holyhead service has been scrapped, unfortunately.

1D19 2254 Birmingham New Street to Holyhead

If only they retimed it so it matched with the ferry, would've been a great service.

Both services via Stafford have been removed altogether.

 

[berneyarms]

The service that arrives in Holyhead at 02:15 will now start in Shrewsbury.

 

[Kite159]

Some of the 'random' gaps are at very inconvenient and annoying times. Aberdare mostly has its half hourly service restored but the 07.21 downwards (obviously popular with commuters) is missing. Worse still, in the afternoon two consecutive services upwards to Aberdare are missing, meaning there are no trains from Cardiff Central to Aberdare between 15.11 and 16.41. Not ideal!

When I checked Realtime Trains yesterday the 07.21 was showing for next week but it's disappeared again now. The afternoon trains for next week are showing at the moment but I wouldn't be surprised if they've gone by the weekend.

Does Aberdare still have the issue of having gaps due to freight paths to the long closed Tower coal works beyond Aberdare?

Even though those trains haven't run in a few years?

 

[Pat Figg]

Does Aberdare still have the issue of having gaps due to freight paths to the long closed Tower coal works beyond Aberdare?

Even though those trains haven't run in a few years?

Yes, and that's equally annoying! They did fill in one of the gaps about 3 years ago so there is now an 18.11 from Cardiff Central which didn't used to exist but there are still hour long gaps down from Aberdare from 11.21-12.21 and 12.51-13.51 to allow the non-existent coal trains to pass. Nothing could go north of Aberdare at the moment anyway as the line has been blocked for about 5 years.