Commuters complaining as doors fail to open on new trains

COMMUTERS have been complaining that the doors don’t work on Great Western Railway’s (GWR) new high-speed trains – causing major delays for passengers.

There were delays and cancellations on services between Swansea and Cardiff yesterday and on Monday, with beleaguered passengers citing issues with the doors as one of the main factors.

On Monday passengers waited on the 5.29pm in Swansea for 35 minutes while a maintenance team attempted to repair the doors of a new GWR train. That service was eventually cancelled.

The affected model is the new Hitachi bi-mode Intercity Express Train which also faced problems on its first outing in October.

The new hybrid trains, which have a top speed of 125mph, are designed to replace the existing InterCity 125 trains as part of the UK government’s Intercity Express Programme.

Commuter Janet Peregrine, who was travelling from Swansea to Bridgend on Monday, also reported door issues.

She said: “I was getting the 8.29am train from Swansea to Bridgend. It is a new train, but there was an electrical problem. We tried to get the 8.58am Manchester train instead, but we couldn’t get off our train because the doors wouldn’t open. In the end we left about 45 minutes late from Swansea. One woman said she was going to be late for a seminar and we are late for work again.

“Every week it seems that there is some problem. It is not a great start to the working week.”

A spokesman for Great Western Railways said: “The Intercity Express Trains continue to perform well in service, successfully completing over 60 long-distance journeys every day, covering in excess of 40,000 miles every week, and with each train providing up to 24% more seats than the High Speed Train it replaces.

“There have been a small number of isolated issues with the operation of IET doors, which has occasionally meant it has spent longer at stations than expected.

“This is being investigated and we are sorry for any inconvenience.”