Call for the new TFW train design to be cancelled
RAIL passengers usually look forward to new rolling stock, but there are calls for new trains on order for Wales and Borders services to be delayed or cancelled.
In 2018, Transport for Wales said it would gather feedback from passengers on the future Class 197 diesel trains which will ply long-distance routes from 2022. However, it fixed the specification, including the same model of seat as in the new Great Western Railway trains, without seeking passengers’ feedback.
Passenger groups have pleaded in vain with TFW to reverse its decision to provide just one toilet on each twocoach long-distance train – half the current number.
Some rail-users say now is the wrong time to be building new diesel trains, which should last for about 30 years, because electrification of more railways is on the cards.
TFW says the new trains will be more fuel-efficient than the existing ones, and will increase capacity and cut journey times.
Rail-user Thomas Wheeler said TFW should hang on to the existing trains, which he claimed “are far superior for long-distance work”.
In a letter in passenger group Railfuture Cymru’s magazine, he said he hoped production of the coach bodies in Spain could be stopped before exceeding 40.
Fellow Railfuture member Jim Maggs said TFW thought it knew what’s best for passengers, without asking for opinions.
Jeff Smith, chair of the Shrewsbury-aberystwyth Rail Passengers Association, said the reduction in toilets was a concern.
The Welsh Government, which owns TFW, wants the UK Government to fund further electrification, covering lines where the new trains will run.
Mr Smith added: “The new trains would not even provide much of an increase in capacity on the Cambrian lines as so many of them would have only two carriages. It would be beneficial for TFW to delay the new trains and redesign them.”
A Transport for Wales spokesman said the trains’ construction was welladvanced, with testing due to begin next year. The spokesman said: “Prior to recent Covid-19 service reductions, we were committed to having 120 trains in service per day. From 2025 we will have expanded this to 168 trains in service per day. Seventy-seven will be Class 197s, providing a significant increase in the capacity of our Wales and Borders fleet.”
The number of long-distance trains with three coaches instead of two would jump from 16 to 26.
He also said: “In designing our new trains, we have worked to find what we believe to be a balance between seating capacity and accessible toilets, seating layout, bike space and passenger comfort.”