‘Why change at Mount?’
TRAIN passengers have compained that people travelling to Aberdare sometimes have to get off at Mountain Ash and wait for the next train to complete their journey.
The issue has even been raised in the Senedd.
TRAIN passengers have said it is “unacceptable” people travelling to Aberdare sometimes have to get off at Mountain Ash and wait for the next train to complete their journey.
The issue is so pertinent it was raised in the Senedd last week, when First Minister Carwyn Jones was told the “frequency and reliability” of these services was crucial.
Commenting on Facebook, several rail passengers also said it has happened to them from time to time, and has caused various problems for students, commuters and more.
That included a student with Asperger’s, who recently suffered “great distress” from the train stopping short of its final destination.
But a spokesman for Arriva Trains Wales, which runs the service, said while it appreciated short notice changes were “really frustrating”, the company has to make them to reduce overall disruption, and it has recently been awarded for its punctuality.
The issue was raised at the National Assembly by South Wales Central AM David Melding on June 20, who called for improvements to be made.
He told Mr Jones the frequency and reliability of services was “crucial”.
Mr Melding said: “In terms of Arriva’s services, I really think that we need to see a dramatic improvement in such practices as cancelling services or stopping a service halfway up the valley.”
He said that on occasions trains stop at Mountain Ash, and passengers wanting to get to Aberdare have to get off and wait for the next train.
Mr Melding said: “These are really important tests of a service, and I do not think that sort of service is acceptable.”
Responding, Mr Jones said it was hugely important people are able to travel on a reliable service and in comfort.
He told Mr Melding: “There are many occasions where members have drawn attention to a breakdown in that service over the years.
“From next year, of course, it is the responsibility of the Welsh Government, and we accept that.
“That’s why it’s so important with the new franchises, as they are allocated, that we look not just at frequency but that we also look at the comfort that passengers experience when they’re on the trains to make sure that more people use the trains.”
Commenting on the Arriva Trains Fails Facebook page, several Cynon Valley residents said they had been inconvenienced by Aberdare-bound trains unexpectedly stopping at Mountain Ash, with passengers having to wait for the next train.
Clare Griffiths said she had experienced the problem three times this year, and it had affected her son, Gareth, who has Asperger’s and is a student at the University of South Wales.
ATW director Gareth Thomas said: “We were very pleased to be acknowledged as the best train operator in the UK for right time performance recently and this year we have seen a consistently strong performance across our network.
“In terms of the Valley lines specifically, our punctuality for the past 12 months has been 95.7% and reliability 99.4% which shows that the vast majority of our services are running as they should. Performance on the Aberdare line this year has been in line with that and the times we’ve had to make changes have been few and far between.
“However we can appreciate when there is disruption and we have to make short notice changes in order to reduce overall disruption, this can be really frustrating and we appreciate the impact this has on people and will do our best to minimise the impact of this.”