Cardiff area service reliability

[bramling]

Having been in South Wales the last couple of weeks, I’ve been pretty shocked at the poor performance of the local rail services.

Pretty much every time we have attempted to use trains there has been disruption. On top of that, where disruption has occurred it has been poorly handled, with useless provision of information.

In particular:

* Turnround times are way too tight, pretty much across the board. So when delays occur they seem to propagate onto following services.

* A number of single-track branches. Maesteg in particular seems to be a shambles, with late running of one service then affecting multiple others, with the potential to delay GWR and other services on the main line. Today it seems over half of the Maesteg services have been late, in several cases considerably so, with two journeys being terminated at Tondu.

With services running through to Cheltenham this arrangement just doesn’t work.

* The Penarth branch seems way too tightly utilised.

* Running through Cardiff means a delay in one area then affects another.

Is this experience typical, or have I merely been unfortunate in being here at a bad time? A lot of money seems to be being spent on the metro scheme, but would this have been better spent on reducing the amount of single-track sections?

 

[anthony263]

I think tfw were looking at a loop on the Penarth branch. Points at heath jct been causing issues. There were sheep loose north of Caerphilly on the Rhymney line.

Agreed on Maesteg branch we still waiting for Tondu loop to be sorted

 

[bramling]

I think tfw were looking at a loop on the Penarth branch. Points at heath jct been causing issues. There were sheep loose north of Caerphilly on the Rhymney line.

Agreed on Maesteg branch we still waiting for Tondu loop to be sorted

Interesting about the animals on the line at Caerphilly, as this seems to be what was being blamed for the delays to Maesteg today.

Looking through RTTT, the Maesteg branch performance over the last week has been absolutely appalling.

 

[56xx]

The last few weeks have been particularly bad. No trains to Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil, Treherbert for weeks, some planned and some over running engineering works. No trains to Ebbw Vale for a week or so.
Yesterday a 175 apparently ran out of fuel at Bridgend causing 2-3 hour delays on the SWML

 

[bramling]

The last few weeks have been particularly bad. No trains to Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil, Treherbert for weeks, some planned and some over running engineering works. No trains to Ebbw Vale for a week or so.
Yesterday a 175 apparently ran out of fuel at Bridgend causing 2-3 hour delays on the SWML

One would think that with a significant amount of the network closed this would make performance better if anything.

Judging by the amount of traffic congestion in the area, it certainly seems like there’s a role for rail to play in the Cardiff area, but not if this week’s performance is typical.

 

[Nick Ashwell]

The last few weeks have been particularly bad. No trains to Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil, Treherbert for weeks, some planned and some over running engineering works. No trains to Ebbw Vale for a week or so.
Yesterday a 175 apparently ran out of fuel at Bridgend causing 2-3 hour delays on the SWML

Was this what was reported as signalling issues? My Cheltenham train started from Cardiff for what was reported as signalling issues between Bridgend and Maesteg yesterday

 

[Markdvdman]

Well today the Valleys Lines 'congestion' caused knock on delays, and two trains in succession cencelled at Ponty not going onto Mountain Ash. Unreal when no trains north of Pontypridd to Treherbert or Merthyr. Cardiff is a terrible bottleneck if there is one bad delay. Says it all took away the old lines, HOW useful they would be now eh?

 

[bramling]

Well today the Valleys Lines 'congestion' caused knock on delays, and two trains in succession cencelled at Ponty not going onto Mountain Ash. Unreal when no trains north of Pontypridd to Treherbert or Merthyr. Cardiff is a terrible bottleneck if there is one bad delay. Says it all took away the old lines, HOW useful they would be now eh?

It certainly seems that the ££ spent on the metro project would better have been spent on sorting out bottlenecks. These last two weeks I’ve been watching the network implode on a daily basis as one delay leads to a horrendous knock-on impact.

Which is a shame for myself, I work in Caldicot and Bridgend, meaning the direct link has been a godsend

Given the issues the Maesteg services seem to cause, both to themselves and other services, really they should be no more than a Cardiff to Maesteg shuttle. With a journey time of 50 minutes, a two-train service with 10 minutes at each end ought to be just about robust.

 

[vicbury]

Living in Lydney I'm looking forward to the TfW Cheltenham services no longer coming from Maesteg. Virtually every week I'm claiming delay repay, and I only go to the office once a week!

 

[geoffk]

I called in at STJ on Monday and saw that the Severn Tunnel was closed (for a week?), with London trains going via Gloucester and retimed. This presumably has an impact on the timekeeping of other trains.

 

[Dai Corner]

Imagine what it will be like when they try to run 4tph to each Valley terminus with the Rhymney Valley trains crossing the Taff Valley ones around Queen Street and the Bay branch working on line of sight instead of signals.

 

[ChrisHogan]

I called in at STJ on Monday and saw that the Severn Tunnel was closed (for a week?), with London trains going via Gloucester and retimed. This presumably has an impact on the timekeeping of other trains.

Not really. GWR London service reduced to hourly with all the retimings east of STJ. Should have zero impact coupled with Portsmouth service starting from Bristol should make things less congested not more. Cardiff Central last night when I arrived for the 1623 Swansea-Paddn was a disgrace. The IET was being advertised as the 1714 to Holyhead leading to a huge crush on platform 1 until just before it stopped.

 

[Western 52]

I think there are more trains starting and terminating at Central now, since half the Marches line services no longer to through to Carmarthen or Milford Haven. This must be adding to the congestion.

 

[anthony263]

I called in at STJ on Monday and saw that the Severn Tunnel was closed (for a week?), with London trains going via Gloucester and retimed. This presumably has an impact on the timekeeping of other trains.

I caught the 0845 Cardiff to Nottingham yesterday held for quite a while. One diverted GWR had delayed others thus in turn meant we had to wait outside Gloucester Station ended up 15 late into new street

I think there are more trains starting and terminating at Central now, since half the Marches line services no longer to through to Carmarthen or Milford Haven. This must be adding to the congestion.

Terminating services having to cross the road been said for a while limits paths west to Bridgend and Swansea in addition to freights.

 

[Signal_Box]

Having been in South Wales the last couple of weeks, I’ve been pretty shocked at the poor performance of the local rail services.

Pretty much every time we have attempted to use trains there has been disruption. On top of that, where disruption has occurred it has been poorly handled, with useless provision of information.

In particular:

* Turnround times are way too tight, pretty much across the board. So when delays occur they seem to propagate onto following services.

* A number of single-track branches. Maesteg in particular seems to be a shambles, with late running of one service then affecting multiple others, with the potential to delay GWR and other services on the main line. Today it seems over half of the Maesteg services have been late, in several cases considerably so, with two journeys being terminated at Tondu.

With services running through to Cheltenham this arrangement just doesn’t work.

* The Penarth branch seems way too tightly utilised.

* Running through Cardiff means a delay in one area then affects another.

Is this experience typical, or have I merely been unfortunate in being here at a bad time? A lot of money seems to be being spent on the metro scheme, but would this have been better spent on reducing the amount of single-track sections?

TfW are under extreme pressure with lack of rolling stock hence sets are having to be “stepped up” which results in very very tight turnarounds leading to delays unfortunately.

A loop on the Penarth branch is in a word pointless, unless you include it in a project to quadruple and remodel Cogan Junction to suit. The answer to late running on the branch is to hold the next Penarth on the Down Loop at Cogan to allow the following Barry or Bridgend to pass. The delay will work itself out over about 3-4 trains, with some planned fail to calls or early turn backs further up the valley.

Tondu branch loop hinges on Tondu SB resignalling.

Personally I can see an end in sight until the full Core Vallyes rebuild is complete, the 756 fleet can’t be used until there is the OLE to charge the batteries, the 231 fleet is doing a very good job at carrying the weight at the moment but they’ll be needed for mainline services at some point.

The 398 trams, well….we’ll see how they preform on heavy rugby services and late night booze ex services.

Unfortunately TfW have been a victim of circumstance, with the relief 170 fleet being taken away before they could be released, the 175 ignition problems and don’t mention the 769s.

I think the WAG should have allowed the Pacers to solider on until the upgrade was complete, passengers want a train they’re not bothered what train it is as long as it’s on time and arrives. Sadly at the moment that can’t be relied upon.

What I do know is there are 1000s of people working bloody hard to get the railway back to a place where it can be relied upon and valued it’ll just take a few years.

Imagine what it will be like when they try to run 4tph to each Valley terminus with the Rhymney Valley trains crossing the Taff Valley ones around Queen Street and the Bay branch working on line of sight instead of signals.

LOS will not extend onto the CVL especially not through QS.

 

[yorkie]

If anyone would like to discuss the possibility of potential improvements which could be made to boost capacity/reliability in the Cardiff area, a thread can be found at the link below:

Potential improvements in the Cardiff area, to boost capacity/reliability?

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/cardiff-area-service-reliability.250159/ Cardiff Central isn't an ideal place for terminating trains given most have to cross the mainline to get to the sidings. In the new timetable I think Maesteg services are running to Ebbw...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[bramling]

Living in Lydney I'm looking forward to the TfW Cheltenham services no longer coming from Maesteg. Virtually every week I'm claiming delay repay, and I only go to the office once a week!

I’m just at Bridgend now, and once again the next Maesteg is 20 late and terminating at Tondu. Seems the Maesteg branch isn’t really fit for purpose as this seems to be endemic.

This isn’t great when the Llynfi valley is one of the more deprived places in Wales (especially beyond Maesteg itself). The train service needs to be reliable.

Moderator note: discussion regarding whether or not the Maesteg branch could be operated more reliably can be found at the following thread:

Could the Maesteg branch be operated differently, to increase reliability?

Living in Lydney I'm looking forward to the TfW Cheltenham services no longer coming from Maesteg. Virtually every week I'm claiming delay repay, and I only go to the office once a week! I’m just at Bridgend now, and once again the next Maesteg is 20 late and terminating at Tondu. Seems the...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Markdvdman]

Well Bramling I was waiting on the platform for the 15:07 to Llanelli (terminating at Carmarthen). It was a 2 car 175 which was on time to Hereford and was 15 mins late at Bridgend. It was showing as to Maesteg originally but the reason for the termination at Tondu was train was late from the depot. That is inexcusable really. Especially for an hourly service!

 

[vicbury]

Is it just me, or is it always the Cardiff - Cheltenham leg of the Maesteg - Cheltenham services that get cancelled? If there was a bit of joined up thinking, this could be mitigated by getting the CrossCountry Cardiff - Nottingham services to additionally call at Severn Tunnel Junction, Caldicot, Chepstow, and Lydney, but no, that doesn't happen!

 

[Nick Ashwell]

Is it just me, or is it always the Cardiff - Cheltenham leg of the Maesteg - Cheltenham services that get cancelled? If there was a bit of joined up thinking, this could be mitigated by getting the CrossCountry Cardiff - Nottingham services to additionally call at Severn Tunnel Junction, Caldicot, Chepstow, and Lydney, but no, that doesn't happen!

It seems to be, and almost always on days with events in Cardiff.

 

[markymark2000]

Is it just me, or is it always the Cardiff - Cheltenham leg of the Maesteg - Cheltenham services that get cancelled? If there was a bit of joined up thinking, this could be mitigated by getting the CrossCountry Cardiff - Nottingham services to additionally call at Severn Tunnel Junction, Caldicot, Chepstow, and Lydney, but no, that doesn't happen!

I think that Maesteg has it's fair share of cancellations as well. There is a lot of cancelling Cheltenham Spa itself though and trains starting/finishing at Gloucester.

It is a shame that there is no easy option to get Cheltenham - Cardiff moved to CrossCountry (already run on the line) or GWR (links up their network nicely and potentially opens up new useful links depending on how they run the service). It's a common thing with TFW not wanting to work with other TOCs and given it's at the extremities of the network and it runs into England, TFW don't like it and will always prioritise it for cancellations

 

[vicbury]

I think that Maesteg has it's fair share of cancellations as well. There is a lot of cancelling Cheltenham Spa itself though and trains starting/finishing at Gloucester.

It is a shame that there is no easy option to get Cheltenham - Cardiff moved to CrossCountry (already run on the line) or GWR (links up their network nicely and potentially opens up new useful links depending on how they run the service). It's a common thing with TFW not wanting to work with other TOCs and given it's at the extremities of the network and it runs into England, TFW don't like it and will always prioritise it for cancellations

Bizarre when it's one of the routes that they are targeting for frequency improvements in December and, I would imagine, probably takes more revenue than some of their other routes! CrossCountry do stop some services at Lydney, Chepstow, Severn Tunnel Junction (I use the 0712 from Lydney when I commute) so it's a shame that they don't stop all services.

 

[vicbury]

Somehow, despite the Severn Estuary Line (Severn Tunnel Junction - Gloucester) having been closed the last few weeks, TfW reliability seems to have gotten even worse since. For example, the service I catch from Severn Tunnel Junction to Lydney:

Monday - cancelled
Tuesday - delayed and terminated at Gloucester
Wednesday - cancelled

What's the betting I get home on time today? What a shambles of a railway.

 

[TPO]

The Valleys services have always been tightly scheduled with an extended knock-on impact if there were any problems.

Back in the early 1990s, an overly-ambitious utilisation of pacers led to daily disruption (no delay repay in those days). Eventually, once Canton had gone through and sorted the pacers, they became a generally reliable mainstay of the service.

The Valleys have always been at the back of the queue for new trains, which is why for several years the loco hauled trains ran peak Rhymney valley services.

Having enough trains available made a big difference though.

TfW were handed a poison chalice: decreasing pacer reliability (ROSCOs minimising maintenance in the run up to scheduled withdrawal), the 769 programme not delivering and few other trains cascaded. In amongst this, the Westminster govt reneging on electrification commitments in south Wales created much uncertainty, difficult to commit to buying trains if you don't know what power source to specify.

It must be really dispiriting for staff coming to work knowng that no matter how hard they try, theres just not enough working trains to run a resilient service.

The contraction in the supply chain since COVID and the introduction of all those "build and maintain" fleets has also made it much more difficult to get spares for older stock if it fails, reducing fleet availability even more.

Theres no easy answer now. The failure was one of naive over-optimism about robustness of the plan; I know Fleet engineers who were skeptical but the corporate management types in charge at the time knew better. And so those who caused the problem moved on and the front line staff are left doing their best.

TPO