11,000 TfW rail services cancelled in three years
MORE than 11,000 Transport for Wales services have been cancelled in the past three years.
The figure has been obtained by the Welsh Conservatives and shows that since the operator took over rail services in October 2018 a total of 11,129 services were cancelled.
Transport for Wales was run by KeolisAmey from 2018 after they took over from Arriva Trains Wales however, Welsh Government has now taken over Transport for Wales.
Figures obtained by the Welsh Conservatives also show the number of delays on Transport for Wales services from October 2018 to the present day.
The numbers using public transport plummeted during the pandemic. In May 2020 Welsh Government estimated it had declined by 95% in the early days of the pandemic compared to the same period the year before.
Cancellations were 1,562 from October 2018 to April 2019, rising to 5,471 the following year, and when the pandemic hit it was 2,626. During this current financial year there have been 1,470 cancellations. That
figure for 2019-20 equates to 1.62% of all Transport for Wales services being cancelled.
From 2018 to the end of the financial year in 2019, Transport for Wales had 1,351 services which were more than 15 minutes late. That jumped to 4,678 the following year, dropping again to 1,569 in 2020-21. The figures for the current year are 1,338.
For services more than 15 but less than 30 minutes late, it was 275 in the first year TFW took over, rising to 929 in 2019-20. The pandemic-hit following year saw 366 services late and currently for this financial year it is 314.
Looking at services more than 60 minutes late, it was 19 services in the first year of the takeover, rising to 109 in 2019-20, 58 in 2020-21 and so far this financial year, 28 services were which were more than a hour late.
A Transport for Wales spokesman said: “Our staff work incredibly hard to ensure trains run on time or as close to their scheduled time as possible.
“The number of services delayed by more than 15 minutes represents just 1% of our total number of services and customers are able to claim compensation for delays of more than 15 minutes using our Delay Repay service. We aim to keep cancellations to an absolute minimum and just 1% of our services have been cancelled this year. Unfortunately, cancellations are sometimes unavoidable due to circumstances beyond our control such as bad weather or incidents on the network.
“We understand delays and cancellations are frustrating for customers and TfW is investing heavily in new trains and infrastructure to improve performance across the Wales and Borders network.”
Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport, Natasha Asghar MS, said: “These might just look like numbers, but it must’ve been incredibly frustrating to the millions of people who were caught up in these delays and cancellations.
“Since Transport for Wales started running the show things have gone from bad to worse – and that’s not on. Commuters and visitors deserve better. They should be able to use our trains without fear of regular delays and cancellations, which in turn leaves people late for work or missing vital appointments.
“It is quite clear that nothing has improved since the Labour government nationalised the railway – despite them saying it would protect services and deliver infrastructure services.
“If we are to encourage people out of private cars and onto public transport – a rhetoric often chanted by Labour ministers – then we need to see some serious improvements to stop train delays and cancellations.”