Misery continues for commuters on TfW services
THE last thing people want after a tiring day at work is a long, hot, cramped journey home on a packed commuter train.
Sadly, this appears to be an all too frequent reality for the thousands of people across Wales who rely on train services provided by Transport for Wales (TfW), the franchise that took over from the now-defunct Arriva Trains Wales in October last year.
And, as these pictures show, frustrated passengers have been sharing their photos of their experiences.
Monday saw a day of disruption and cancellations leading to complaints flooding into the train operator from angry customers.
Similar complaints were a regular occurrence for years under Arriva Trains Wales, and they seem to be continuing under the new operator.
Passengers on the Valleys Lines were given another blow when it was confirmed that new trains that were supposed to come into operation in September wouldn’t be on time because of “engineering issues”.
Some passengers have reported leaky roofs and windows on trains during bad weather.
A spokesman for Transport for Wales said: “We’re currently using all our available rolling stock every weekday, and this is allocated to services based on our passenger numbers in order to meet demand as best we can. We know that our customers deserve a better service, which is why we’re working hard to introduce any additional capacity available.
“A number of trains are currently out of service for repair or refurbishment, as part of our £40m investment to ensure our existing fleet is reliable and meets accessibility requirements.
“This will be just the start of our plans to upgrade our train fleet, as we embark on an £800m investment programme in brand new rolling stock.”
He also stated that class 170 and class 153 trains would be added to the fleet to provide extra capacity on the Valleys Lines in the planned December timetable change.