Passengers still hit with fewer services
WELSH Government data has revealed there were about 7,700 fewer train services operating in Wales last month than the same time in 2020 before the pandemic.
With the easing of Covid restrictions seeing many public settings, workplaces and events opening up to the people of Wales, train services have been plagued by overcrowding and delays in the past few months.
According to a YouGov poll in November, people in Wales were the least likely to say their services were good with just 41% compared to 51% in London and 44% in East of England, while 22% said their local train services in Wales were bad.
Recent figures from the Welsh Government, which show the number of train services operated by Transport for Wales (TfW) from when the company began operating services in October 2018 to March 2022, showed 17,973 services operated in February this year, compared to 25,736 in February 2020.
During the pre-pandemic period, services operated by TfW stood at 27,684 in October 2018, and increased to 28,006 in the same month the following year.
Setting aside this month’s data, which currently stands at 7,356 but has yet to be completed, the lowest number of services operated stood at 14,399 in May 2020 – 3,574 fewer than how many were operated last month.
In December, TfW announced an emergency rail timetable, which equated to a reduction of the standard service by 10-15% due to staff absence amid the Omicron wave of Covid-19.
However, with staff absences continuing to increase, the decision was taken to further reduce services on January 3, and represented an additional 10-15% reduction in services.
But TfW has said it has been slowly restoring services since February, with the final services expected to be restored in April.
When speaking about the data, Lee Waters, Deputy Minister for Climate Change, said: “When the Covid pandemic struck in March 2020, and restrictions were imposed to reduce the spread of the virus, we took the active decision to reduce the number of services that were being run but also to maintain a core level of service to enable key workers to be able to travel.
“We also provided free travel in this period to NHS staff on TfW services.
“As the Covid restrictions were eased through the summer of 2020, we instructed TfW to increase the number of services, especially on busy tourist routes.
“As Covid restrictions were tightened again during the winter months we again asked TfW to reduce the provision.
“The pattern was similar in 2021, with the reduced timetable imposed in December 2021 now being unwound, with more services being returned across Wales and the Borders by TfW each week.
“TfW plan to restore the service level to similar to that prior to the Covid pandemic later this year with further increases in services in December and through 2023.”
In response, Shadow Minister for Transport, Natasha Asghar MS said: “For two years, Wales has lived under Covid-19 restrictions which we have followed in order to stop the spread of the virus. However, it is time we got the economy moving again.
“If Labour ministers are serious about combatting climate change and kickstarting the economy, they must ensure that sufficient public transport services are running.”
We asked a spokesperson for TfW what further measures were being taken to increase the number of train services operating in Wales and provide details as to how and when commuters could expect services to return to prepandemic levels.
They said all services are due to be restored in April and it will be adding more services across the Wales and Borders network as part of its timetable change in May.
In response to a question about when the reduced Cardiff City Line service would be restored, they said: “Timetables for services in Cardiff have been altered in recent months as a result of essential strengthening work being undertaken on the railway bridge over Adam Street.
“We’re currently planning to be able to restore direct services between Coryton and Radyr and the shuttle service between Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Bay from our timetable change in May.”