Goodness me, are TfW still persisting with that nonsense?
Some TOCs & unions made heavy work of training during the pandemic whereas others breezed through it.
AFAIK every TOC at one point banned route learners from other TOCs traveling in their cabs. Not sure I'd describe it as nonsense given the risks during a pandemic of two people sharing such a small space.
TfW route conductors beyond Carmarthen? Or can't they spare the drivers?
Not a hope. Even in the May timetable there will still not be a full restoration of the pre Covid service - arguably the most notable impact for that part of the world being the continued suspension of most of the Cardiff - Swansea Swanline service. Also, lots of train crew at Cardiff and Carmarthen need to undertake traction training this year. It would be madness to effectively lend staff to GWR under those circumstances.
Carmarthen are currently replacing trains to Pembroke dock and Fishguard at least once per day due to staffing this is public knowledge has been since December
4 car can run the entire route the platforms are long enough and would be easier to diagram one would think
If there are enough units for that it would be a good option.
to be fair tho the 158s did ok last year to what i saw so a 158+153 or 150+153 combo should do fine
should change in may i hope it also makes us on the line feel very out the way 45 minutes waiting to go anywhere and its adding 1 connection and causing longer journeys
The Monday - Saturday through services are on sale again starting 16th May, including the 1704 from Cardiff Central to Tenby (starts back at Manchester Piccadilly at 1331) and return from Tenby to Cardiff Central at 2010, plus the 0631 from Cardiff Central to Pembroke Dock. This also means that the connection from the 1248 London Paddington to Swansea is available at Swansea. Are they actually going to be running?
I think the main destination is Tenby rather than the ferries.
Indeed, and surely the demand for tourism to Tenby heavily outweighs the small numbers transferring to the ferry at Fishguard? It would also only work if the train actually connected into a ferry, and they only run twice a day (with one being in the middle of the night).
tenby is massive holiday destination and always gets a large amount of passengers
I'm not so sure. People are more and more likely to make choices that are better for the planet and I can see a resurgence in boat train traffic (albeit not quite to the good old days). The way to promote it would be direct trains from London to Fishguard with decent connection onto Irish rail at Rosslare. This would entice the large south east Irish population, as well as Irish tourists London bound to use the boat and train via Fishguard. The whole having to change onto a 153 at Swansea is likely to put people off and just give up and take the easy but more polluting option of Ryanair. We need to make the journey "seemless" if the boats want to win back airline traffic.
thats if the boats want the traffic stena have previously changed boat times to decrease foot passenger volumes out of Fishguard
The problem is, there are very few journeys between cities in Ireland and the UK where Fishguard is a better option than via Holyhead, even when you take into account the fact Dublin Port isn't rail connected. Even if there is a big return of foot passengers using the ferry (something I'm already skeptical about) it's hard to see there being much benefit at Fishguard. Rosslare is just an awkward windswept corner of Ireland that isn't of much use to most of the island
The timetable change was a last throw of the dice to save the route. The previous times shadowed the Irish Ferries service from Pembroke, and unlike on the Central Corridor through Holyhead there just isn't enough freight to fill two ferries at the same time twice a day. Hopefully running at different times to Irish Ferries will develop a big enough market to sustain both ferries. The impact it had on Foot Passenger journeys was unfortunate, but the revenue foot passengers generate is a tiny fraction of that which comes from the vehicle decks.
Is there any sign of the Swanline services being reinstated with the May timetable? Although to be fair most of the time the Swanline stations (aside from Pyle) arent very busy and dont make the already busy Manchester services that busier. And given the small time penalty of the Manchester services calling there every 2 hours it might make more sense to keep it as it is currently as it saves 2 units and 2 sets of train crew. It seems to work out quite well at the moment and swanline passengers now, by and large, get 175s which is an improvement on the 153s and 150s that were used before.
The poor service is the reason it’s so underused. Pre.covid Pyle numbers increased with the extra trains . A full hourly swanline would work and help take pressure off other services
