AUTUMN RAIL WOE?
OPERATORS’ VOW:
RAIL managers in Wales have detailed how passengers will get a better service this autumn, as new data reveals that last November’s train chaos occurred despite “reduced track problems”.
Transport for Wales and Network Rail are working on a raft of measures to reduce the disruption when rails become slippery with fallen leaves and other matter.
New devices on Sprinter trains will ensure that fewer wheels are damaged by sliding on slippery tracks. However, about 30% of TfW’s Sprinters are not expected to have the devices by October.
Last November, Transport Minister Ken Skates promised: “By next autumn, every train that Transport for Wales operates will get wheel slide protection.”
TfW Rail Services took over from Arriva Trains Wales last October, inheriting a fleet of ageing trains. From November 11 to December 8, 4.5% of services were cancelled or more than 30 minutes late – which was 22% more than under ATW in the same period in 2017. Trains were also less punctual than in 2017. Many had fewer coaches than usual, causing severe overcrowding at times.
Now the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), which regulates Network Rail, has revealed that Welsh railway tracks were in better condition last autumn than in autumn 2017, thanks to improved cleaning of rails.
Sliding on slippery rails can cause a small flat area to develop on a wheel’s steel tyre. The train must then be removed from service for the wheel’s perfect circular
shape to be restored on a lathe.
Network Rail is liable for payments to train operators if it causes unplanned delays to trains, for example by not cleaning tracks adequately in autumn. Train operators pay Network Rail for delays they cause.
In 2018-19, Network Rail’s Wales Route budgeted to pay out £4m under this system – but ended up receiving £1m more from train operators than it paid out. It also paid less than expected for planned disruption to trains.
“Network Rail has largely attributed these [lower payments] to the successful delivery of the Port Talbot resignalling renewal project and reduced track problems in the autumn due to improved rail head treatment,” says the ORR.
A Network Rail Wales spokesman said: “Although we delivered more vegetation management, railhead treatment and infrastructure monitoring than ever before, train performance for passengers last autumn was simply not good enough. We apologised to passengers on behalf of the industry.”
He said Network Rail Wales has managed lineside vegetation over an additional one million square metres this year. This should reduce plant matter on the rails this autumn.
Last autumn, Network Rail operated 23% more treatment trains, which use water jets to clean the tops of rails. It also increased resources in its control centre to ensure those trains could be redirected efficiently during short-notice disruption. This year there will be more of the same, with extra support from TfW and round-the-clock control operations. TfW has rewritten its braking policy, instructing train drivers to bring Sprinters and Pacers to a more gradual stop. It will check braking systems this autumn to ensure that brake blocks are perfectly aligned and apply the same pressure to every wheel on the train.
More trains will have automatic – rather than driver-activated – sanders, which deposit sand under wheels to improve grip when slippage is detected.
TfW has pinpointed 17 autumnal problem areas in south Wales, using data from a train fitted with underfloor video cameras and a GPS location monitor last December. Four places in the Vale of Glamorgan, along with Gowerton, near Swansea, are prioritised for vegetation removal.
TfW will also have more trains this autumn than last, including two vintage diesel trains on the Rhymney to Cardiff line, but also needs two additional trains each weekday for the Chester to Liverpool services launched in May.