Extra seats but some passengers are still left standing

ARRIVA Trains Wales has increased the capacity on some of its most crammed routes, with thousands of extra seats available for commuters.

The move comes after passenger complaints about overcrowding on some services.

About 200,000 new seats have been added in total.

An extra 600 seats have been provided to the Rhymney, Barry and Taff lines to help with the morning rushhour – with the number of carriages doubling in most cases from two to four.

Other weekday improvements include 130 more seats (to all stations except Grangetown) on the 8.13am service from Barry to Cardiff Central and 104 extra seats on the 6.47am service from Treherbert to Cardiff. But has it really made a difference?

We sent our reporter to catch the 6.47am service from Treherbert. Here’s what she had to say: “As a regular rail commuter, I decided to catch the 6.47am service from my hometown of the Rhondda to Cardiff Central, to see if the extra seats had really made a difference.

“When the train rolled into the station where I was boarding – Ystrad Rhondda: 6.58am – I was pleased to see four carriages.

“Things started off quite well, with plenty of spare seats.

“But by the time we reached Pontypridd, spaces quickly started to fill up.

“Any passengers boarding the train at stations after Taffs Well or Radyr would have really struggled to get a seat. A number of people were forced to stand, although I would say it wasn’t as packed as it would usually be.”

The increase in capacity was a hot topic on social media yesterday morning.

One user, using the Twitter handle Stan Needles, also travelled on the 6.47am service from Treherbert boarding at Pontypridd.

He tweeted a picture of a busy train and wrote: “Breathe in!!” Thought there were extra trains running from today?”

In another tweet, he added: “I’m on the Rhondda to Cardiff service. Probably the longest service with lowest allocation of extra seats.”

In response to the post, Arriva said: “We have added extra capacity to our busiest routes but it is under review. I will pass your feedback on.”

Another user, Matt, said: “Where’s the extra carriages? We were promised them today. The 7:53 Radyr to Cardiff is peak yet we only had two.”

While Chris King wrote: “Train overloaded again, no seats and still one more stop before Cardiff #EveryDay #PoorCustomerService”

But it wasn’t all bad news. Some services – including the Rhymney and Ebbw Vale services – did clearly benefit from the increased capacity.

The 6.32am train from Rhymney to Cardiff Central was increased from two carriages to four.

One commuter said the train is usually “packed” with standing room only but that there were several seats available by the time it reached Llanishen.

Writing on Twitter, Richard Gough, also said: “Introduction of four carriages on Rhymney Valley am train is a great move. Creative thinking = improved customer service.”

While Christian said: “We’ve got them on the Ebbw Vale line.”

Arriva Trains Wales customer services director Lynne Milligan said: “We’re very proud to have delivered an additional 600 seats on the morning commute into Cardiff.

“Early indications have shown this has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Despite this, we recognise that these improvements have been achieved within the limitation of the current fleet size and as such can only go so far.

“We always knew it would not eliminate standing as morning trains into Cardiff, as with most major cities, will always be busy, but we are really confident passengers will feel the benefit of this change.”