This morning the Britannic Explorer caused a 31 minutes delay to the Heart of Wales service train, Llandovery-Swansea was delayed 31 minutes at Llandeilo. All because the charter train departed Haverford West 30 down and stayed late all the way- so the service train had to wait at Llandeilo for half an hour for the charter to get through the Pantyfynnon-Llandeilo single line section.
I have serious misgivings about the regulating decision which gave the token to the charter at Pantyfynnon rather than prioritising the service train. There's only a handful of trains on the HoWL as it is, and that one is typically rather busy taking people to work in Swansea. The unit also then forms the stopping service from Swansea to Cardiff, covering all the small local trains- that will also suffer knock on delays. So two socially important service trains delayed due to a charter leaving late from Haverford West.
So TfW's local services again have taken a hit.
Not a good look. Rich people on the Belmont given priority over local working people. If the timings were so tight (relative to the time through token sections) that delaying the charter train would cause issues later on, then it's a poor path in the first place IMO. Maybe time to look at the level of access that charters get.
The Darwin display says "this service has been delayed by congestion." No, it has been delayed by a late running charter.
TPO
I have serious misgivings about the regulating decision which gave the token to the charter at Pantyfynnon rather than prioritising the service train. There's only a handful of trains on the HoWL as it is, and that one is typically rather busy taking people to work in Swansea. The unit also then forms the stopping service from Swansea to Cardiff, covering all the small local trains- that will also suffer knock on delays. So two socially important service trains delayed due to a charter leaving late from Haverford West.
So TfW's local services again have taken a hit.
Not a good look. Rich people on the Belmont given priority over local working people. If the timings were so tight (relative to the time through token sections) that delaying the charter train would cause issues later on, then it's a poor path in the first place IMO. Maybe time to look at the level of access that charters get.
The Darwin display says "this service has been delayed by congestion." No, it has been delayed by a late running charter.
TPO
