‘Painful’ Welsh trains up to four times slower

TRAINS connecting Britain’s major towns and cities are up to four times slower outside the southeast, according to new research – with trains in Wales some of the slowest in the UK.

Analysis by the Press Association of the quickest possible trains on 19 routes found that services from London travel at average speeds of 65-93mph, compared with just 20-60mph elsewhere.

Bruce Williamson, spokesman for campaign group Railfuture, said some journeys were “painfully slow” and this makes the railways “uncompetitive” against other forms of transport such as cars – with negative consequences for the economy and the environment.

Business leaders outside of London have also called for transport between cities other than the capital to be made a priority, to create alternative engines of economic growth – and not just to be seen as stopping services.

Passengers on Cardiff to Swansea trains face journey times that vary significantly. Some key commuter trains average speeds as slow as 28mph over the 35-mile distance, which is only

marginally faster than the slowest of all the services surveyed by the Press Association – that between Liverpool and Chester, which clocked in at a 20mph average.

In contrast, the fastest route was the frequently-served London Paddington to Reading leg of the Great Western line, on which trains cover the distance at an average of 93mph.

Travellers between Cardiff Central and Bristol Temple Meads face average journey times of around 30mph, between Leeds to Sheffield of around 42mph and Edinburgh to Perth of around 25mph.

Passengers between Cardiff to Swansea face wildly varying times but services on some key commuter trains, such as the 7.14am Arriva Trains Wales service, face a one hour 14 minute journey time – an average of 28mph over the 35-mile distance.

A spokeswoman for independent transport user watchdog Transport Focus said the opportunity for a new rail operator for Wales next year does bring an opportunity for change.

She said: “We are calling for a commitment for investment to meet growing demand and expectations for a better-quality service. Passengers in Wales will also be looking for the benefits that might have come if electrification were still on track and are important to them – more reliable services, more seats and new trains.”

The research featured trains operating on Fridays and many of the towns and cities studied were only served by stopping services, with no express routes available.

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and Network Rail, said: “It’s misleading to compare stopping services with intercity services, which are faster because they stop at fewer stations, but of course we need to continue investing to keep improving journeys across the country.

The slowest train in Wales found during the study was from Cardiff Central to Bristol Temple Meads on a Friday at 11.30am. The 24-mile journey, which takes 48 minutes, averaged a speed of 30 miles per hour.

Travelling from Cardiff Central to Swansea on a Friday at 1.45pm takes 49 minutes, which works out to 43 miles per hour on the 35-mile journey, and a trip from Cardiff Central to Newport on a Friday at 10.05am works out to 50 miles per hour, taking 12 minutes on the 10-mile journey.

But the 35-mile trip from Cardiff Central to Swansea can vary by up to 22 minutes. The 7.32pm Great Western Railway service from the capital takes just 51 minutes – 41 miles per hour.

Although faster than the 28mph 7.14am service, even that – at just over 40 miles per hour – is still one of the slowest services in the UK.

Experts warn the problem is not going to get any better, especially now electrification between Cardiff and Swansea has been scrapped.