Poor-show fines up to £3.4m, say rail bosses
RAIL bosses have admitted that fines for poor performance have now been increased to £3.4m.
It had already emerged that fines of £2.3m had been given to Keolis Amey, which operates trains on behalf of Transport for Wales (TfW).
The head of TfW has now said the most recent total is £3.4m of fines.
Yesterday morning, Chris Pearce for Network Rail, as well as TfW chief executive officer James Price and Keolis Amey Wales Cymru chairman Lee
Jones were giving evidence to the National Assembly’s economy committee.
Other things that emerged include that the Metro is six months behind schedule and problems are being caused on a daily basis by trains being the wrong way round, or set up wrongly.
It was also acknowledged that old Pacer trains – which were due to be out of service by
December, but remain in use after special dispensation was given by the UK Government – could remain in use until at least July.
The train operator has faced further criticism from passengers in recent weeks due to reduced and cancelled services.
This month alone, trains being late leaving the depot and rail line breaks have led to disruption.
This week the results of an independent survey by Transport Focus covering the views of 28,000 passengers, including more than 1,000 who use TfW services, was published.
Just under eight in 10 rail passengers in Wales said they were satisfied with their rail services – putting TfW joint fourth from bottom in a table of rail operators. While overall scores have gone up there was no improvement in Wales.
Recent delays had been caused by issues related to trains in depots not being in the correct position for service, it was admitted.
Mr Price said that while the number of trains is now “more than needed” on a daily basis, getting the trains where they need to be, and allowing for breakdowns, is a “different matter”.
He said a major issue is getting trains out of the Canton depot at exactly the right time and in the right formation.
Speaking about progress on the South Wales Metro, Mr Price said the timeline has slipped by six months. He added that the final design has been “all but completed”.
He told the committee that his biggest frustration has been TfW hasn’t delivered things that have been promised.