Transport for Wales

[Trident 4194]

158 and 153 coupled on the 8:11 from Wolverhampton- BHI. One of the 153s was an ex EMR carriage (still in EMR colours)

[Trident 4194]

The MAN to caernathen trains are absolutely appalling for reliability. Currently on a 35 minute delayed class 150 from Crewe to MAN. This train was started from Cardiff central and not caernathen.

Also instead of announcing Wilmslow automatically, it announces Alderley edge! I presume this train was an ex northern train.

[888DUK]

Has anyone got any idea when the TFW class 197 with ETCS for the Cambrian Lines are due to start being delivered, progress seems very slow with the deliveries of all of this class.

[888DUK]

I'll take that as a no then 🤣🤣 

[Solo1]

Has anyone got any idea when the TFW class 197 with ETCS for the Cambrian Lines are due to start being delivered, progress seems very slow with the deliveries of all of this class.

They could be a problem getting them built so that's why could be slow @888DUK  could contact TFW & ask them directly 

[888DUK]

They could be a problem getting them built so that's why could be slow @888DUK  could contact TFW & ask them directly

I have TFW say the Cambrian lines spec will be the last to be built and in service has now been pushed back to 2024.
Seems pretty poor service from CAF to me.

[Solo1]

I have TFW say the Cambrian lines spec will be the last to be built and in service has now been pushed back to 2024.
Seems pretty poor service from CAF to me.

We have had covid & could have a lot of orders & the midland metro trams are off been fixed so they could be another reason did they say why 2 years 

[Sh4318]

I have TFW say the Cambrian lines spec will be the last to be built and in service has now been pushed back to 2024.
Seems pretty poor service from CAF to me.

You'll never hear me complaining. If these 197s are anything like the 195s, they won't be an improvement on the 158s

[the trainbasher]

TfW unit went up in flames last night at Craven Arms

https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/south-shropshire/craven-arms/2022/05/23/train-evacuated-after-catching-fire-in-shropshire/

Train evacuated after fire breaks out on board during journey through Shropshire - Shropshire Star

https://twitter.com/NetworkRailWAL/status/1528653534824103938?s=20&t=_y8wrvfPEt95pH4Ed5GBWQ
https://twitter.com/tfwrail/status/1528620571059179521?s=20&t=1kcCGz3iUvqrwFVwCa22dA

[Stu]

Had a lovely week away on the west coast of Wales, no problems with the outbound journey last Saturday towards Aberystwyth.

However travelling back home this morning, despite the journey checker not reporting any issues with the Cambrian line, and the departure boards showing a 'clean' journey through to Birmingham International, the service was seemingly curtailed at short notice at Shrewsbury.

Ordinarily I wouldn't be too fussed about this, what I objected to was that I could barely hear the 'spoken' on-board announcement as we approached Shrewsbury as it was too quiet and muffled, not helped by a loud rowdy group of passengers within our carriage.

The scrolling visual displays were still showing "a service for Birmingham Intl" as the train sat at Shrewsbury. It was only when the displays went blank and then a second announcement was made welcoming passengers onto the service to Aberyswyth/Pwllheli that I realised I needed to get off!

What compounded things was having to be shuffled off onto another waiting 4-car train that was already nearly full - not sure where it had come from but I heard a couple of other passengers grumbling that this train had already been sat for sometime at Shrewsbury.

I get the whole driver/rolling stock shortage that TfW are experiencing, but this was a pretty poor experience in my opinion.

I love travelling to Wales on the Cambrian line, but if TfW are struggling, it would probably be better to just operate it to and from Shrewsbury. It may be convenient for me to get one train direct from New Street, but I wouldn't mind getting another train to Shrewsbury as long as I know in advance and can be prepared!

[Busbusbus]

Had a lovely week away on the west coast of Wales, no problems with the outbound journey last Saturday towards Aberystwyth.

However travelling back home this morning, despite the journey checker not reporting any issues with the Cambrian line, and the departure boards showing a 'clean' journey through to Birmingham International, the service was seemingly curtailed at short notice at Shrewsbury.

Ordinarily I wouldn't be too fussed about this, what I objected to was that I could barely hear the 'spoken' on-board announcement as we approached Shrewsbury as it was too quiet and muffled, not helped by a loud rowdy group of passengers within our carriage.

The scrolling visual displays were still showing "a service for Birmingham Intl" as the train sat at Shrewsbury. It was only when the displays went blank and then a second announcement was made welcoming passengers onto the service to Aberyswyth/Pwllheli that I realised I needed to get off!

What compounded things was having to be shuffled off onto another waiting 4-car train that was already nearly full - not sure where it had come from but I heard a couple of other passengers grumbling that this train had already been sat for sometime at Shrewsbury.

I get the whole driver/rolling stock shortage that TfW are experiencing, but this was a pretty poor experience in my opinion.

I love travelling to Wales on the Cambrian line, but if TfW are struggling, it would probably be better to just operate it to and from Shrewsbury. It may be convenient for me to get one train direct from New Street, but I wouldn't mind getting another train to Shrewsbury as long as I know in advance and can be prepared

Sounds like a fairly common unit swap at Shrewsbury. The train from Birmingham crosses at Shrewsbury with the one to Birmingham.

The section of route between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth/Pwllheli has a different type of signalling, and as such can only be operated by certain 158s.

If the train from Birmingham is not compliant, the units are swapped over at Shrewsbury. This shouldn't delay the departures from Shrewsbury though as there's a fair amount of stand time in both directions. 

[Stu]

Travelling with Transport For Wales again today on another trip to Borth.

Same complaint about extremely low volume of onboard announcements.

Train arrived at Machynlleth on time and with no issues, it sat there for a few minutes as is usual while crews changeover.

There was some barely audible announcement, then the train sat there for a few more minutes, beyond its scheduled departure time.

Eventually some member of staff came into the carriage and told us all that the service was being curtailed due to 'an issue further down the line' and we all had to go to the front of the station to board the waiting replacement buses.

If we could have heard the announcements, then we wouldn't have all been sat patiently in our seats waiting for the train to depart.

To be fair, replacement coaches had already been arranged, and there was a Lloyds coach going direct to Aberystwyth, and a minibus for those going to Borth and Bow Street. What was funny though was that having got on the minibus with some others already, we were told we had to go to the depot to change to a larger vehicle, as it seems there were far more passengers than TfW anticipated.
So my rail replacement journey involved a ride through to the other side of Machynlleth, then back to the train station to pickup the other passengers.
To their credit the Lloyds driver was brilliant and well-humoured about the situation, and their coaches are quite nice to travel on.
I got to my destination nearly an hour later than I expected, but in all honesty it wasn't a problem, it's just the inaudible announcements on TfW's trains giving an impression of a lack of communication to passengers.

The Lloyds driver also explained that the reason for the curtailment was that someone had been up on a footbridge over the railway near Aberystwyth most of the day, but the line had to be closed as it looked like the situation was escalating and this person was threatening to fall onto the track.

I haven't had chance to check local news yet but as I saw a train pass by earlier, it looks like the situation has ended, hopefully not too badly.

[cardew]

As a reasonably regular visitor to Wales, I agree about the on-board announcements. The train I was on last week from Carmarthen to Cardiff didn't seem to have any announcements at all and the display read "this station is Carmarthen" for the whole journey. 

In TFW's defence, their e-mail journey alerts system works well and is often more up to date than their website, their staff reply quickly via Whatsapp and if you book via the TFW app they automatically refund via delay repay without the need to apply.

[Wba_lad]

158 830 just left Birmingham new street heading to Birmingham international solo, normally they work as a 4 coach formation, 2 158s.

[Trident 4194]

158 830 just left Birmingham new street heading to Birmingham international solo, normally they work as a 4 coach formation, 2 158s

No they don't it can either be 2 or 4 car