ATW Wales Cardiff- Holyhead

[martyn29]

Hello does anyone know apart from the 1615 are there any other 57 hauled services either way? and does anyone know about the meals? They smelt lovely when I was on there last thurs!

 

[87031]

1615 is the only one from Cardiff to Holyhead and yes the meals are fantastic...quality of the food is superb.

 

[martyn29]

any idea of prices and menu?

 

[HSTfan!!!]

http://www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/Premier_Service.aspx

 

[Spaceflower]

4 hours to get across Wales. Not exactly worth shouting about is it.

 

[merlodlliw]

4 hours to get across Wales. Not exactly worth shouting about is it.

why as it speeded up?

 

[CallySleeperKid]

4 hours to get across Wales. Not exactly worth shouting about is it.

If the service is as good as it sounds then I would be very happy to sit in first class for 4 hours!

I had no idea this service existed and I will be looking this one up once I have done my Wrexham & Shropshire run in December.

 

[NJTom]

yes, a beautiful train .. but it only exists at great cost and subsidy from tax payers.

 

[williamn]

yes, a beautiful train .. but it only exists at great cost and subsidy from tax payers.

No different from much of the rest of the network then!

 

[merlodlliw]

No different from much of the rest of the network then!

Do you mean the network in Wales? if so W/S runs without any subsidy
and is very different.

 

[thefab444]

Do you mean the network in Wales? if so W/S runs without any subsidy
and is very different.

No, I think it was plainly obvious he meant the rest of the UK's franchised operations. :roll: It's a very good point as well...

Besides, WSMR only serve about 4 stations in Wales, hardly a Network.

 

[Greenback]

No, I think it was plainly obvious he meant the rest of the UK's franchised operations. :roll: It's a very good point as well...

Besides, WSMR only serve about 4 stations in Wales, hardly a Network.

I have travelled on WSMR, enjoyed the experience and admire the company. However, they are pretty irrelevant in Wales, unless you happen to live in or near Wrexham I suppose.

 

[merlodlliw]

I have travelled on WSMR, enjoyed the experience and admire the company. However, they are pretty irrelevant in Wales, unless you happen to live in or near Wrexham I suppose.

well they do employ over 60 from Wrexham, they are in fact very relevant in North East Wales,giving an option, one could say FGW are irrelevant in North Wales in the same thinking.

 

[thefab444]

:roll: GW *are* irrelevant in North Wales. In the same way that WS are irrelevant outside of Wrexham and a few Salopian places.

 

[tsubaki]

one could say FGW are irrelevant in North Wales in the same thinking.

Indeed you could say that about most of the WAG's effort with regards to railways

 

[merlodlliw]

Indeed you could say that about most of the WAG's effort with regards to railways

Agree with you, in the North East Wales we seem to get no effort whatsoever

 

[tbtc]

Does the public money thrown at WMSR to set up in Wrexham not count as a "subsidy"? Hardly a wholly commercial venture...

 

[tsubaki]

Does the public money thrown at WMSR to set up in Wrexham not count as a "subsidy"? Hardly a wholly commercial venture...

It was £900,000 (ie: about 128 days of operating Gerald) to refurbish a depot on the understanding that it would be open to all train companies - not just WSMR - and the alternative was that they would be based in Shrewsbury.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/6168562.stm

As for subsidy, its not necessarily a bad thing but the issue with the WAG is - as merlodlliw suggests - that it usually doesnt manage to travel too far from Cardiff. Theres a lot of stuff they could be looking to do in NE Wales, both in terms of upgrading lines (oft discussed here) and reopening sections (Mold-Chester especially).

 

[Greenback]

well they do employ over 60 from Wrexham, they are in fact very relevant in North East Wales,giving an option, one could say FGW are irrelevant in North Wales in the same thinking.

That's what I meant, WSMR aren't irrelevant to NE Wales, but are not really big players in the country as a whole. FGW, on the other hand, even though I loathe them, and much prefer WSMR, do run half hourly trains to a geographically larger and more populous area of South Wales, provide services from Cardiff to the South Coast and Taunton. I agree that they are pretty irrelevant to North Wales, but they do have a higher profile in the whole country than a company that runs three or four trains each way that serve a relatively small geographical area of the country.

 

[tbtc]

It was £900,000 (ie: about 128 days of operating Gerald) to refurbish a depot on the understanding that it would be open to all train companies - not just WSMR - and the alternative was that they would be based in Shrewsbury.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/6168562.stm

Still, it's still a clear subsidy.

As for lack of funding for North Wales, I remember a few years ago the only service from Shrewsbury to Chester was the bi hourly Birmingham - Chester service (with one train a day between North Wales and Cardiff). Now it's an hourly service from Shrewsbury to Holyhead via Chester/ Bangor, with a bi-hourly service linking these towns with Cardiff. All of this at a time when lines like Merthyr have stuck with short Pacers on hourly frequencies (recently upgraded, to be fair).

Comparing the population of North Wales to South Wales (places like Cwmbran and Llanelli are still bigger than anywhere in the North) shows that the North has got a pretty decent deal from the politicians in recent times, considering it's population (and that's not even mentioning the "Gerald" service...)

 

[merlodlliw]

Still, it's still a clear subsidy.

As for lack of funding for North Wales, I remember a few years ago the only service from Shrewsbury to Chester was the bi hourly Birmingham - Chester service (with one train a day between North Wales and Cardiff). Now it's an hourly service from Shrewsbury to Holyhead via Chester/ Bangor, with a bi-hourly service linking these towns with Cardiff. All of this at a time when lines like Merthyr have stuck with short Pacers on hourly frequencies (recently upgraded, to be fair).

Comparing the population of North Wales to South Wales (places like Cwmbran and Llanelli are still bigger than anywhere in the North) shows that the North has got a pretty decent deal from the politicians in recent times, considering it's population (and that's not even mentioning the "Gerald" service...)

Its all history now, the reason we got the funding for Wrexham bays was
as you mention Merthyr, my A.M. Karen Sinclair Voted for the £38M for the
Merthyr line, yet voted against The less than £1m for the Wrexham bays.
Due to a universal outcry from A.Ms of all parties,except Labour who were
in power, The funds were found to save her face, I and many others joined up forces to get this funding, it was paid to network rail direct, It must also
be noted ATW stated they had no use for the bays, and then ATW went on a rant to state what a waste of public money this was at Wrexham, when they were invited to run the Merthyr £38M funded service.

The less than £1m of euro funding secured 65 jobs at Wrexham and a choice
of TOC, say whatever you want on populations, North East Wales is the third
largest conurbation in Wales. yet gets no fair share of WAG support, as was
evident at the last round of funding in September, not one penny came to North East Wales. As for the one train a day Cardiff to Holyhead, it too ran via Crewe and was put on for Wynn Roberts the Sec Of State For Wales whose constituency was Conwy.

Politics singled the line Wrexham to Chester, we await our fair share of return of double track.

my opinion of course, I live here.

 

[The Planner]

It ran via Crewe as at the time there was no path via Wrexham. Of course, everyone at NR were there thinking "I know, lets screw Wrexham over" as thats how everything works. Its boring now.

 

[MCR247]

my opinion of course, I live here.

How could we forget

 

[merlodlliw]

It ran via Crewe as at the time there was no path via Wrexham. Of course, everyone at NR were there thinking "I know, lets screw Wrexham over" as thats how everything works. Its boring now.

I agree, time to move on to 2010, like Krus end of my rants. but one as to keep an eye
on the politicians promises.