Transport for Wales Class 230

cole_peter5@ · 4 May 2026

I can't understand why the TFW don't completely dump the class 230 they are just dumping money on them when
everyone but the boss at TFW see this why don't they get rid of the them and turn the line over to 153 or 150 much more
reliable than these - if they don't do something soon they will have no passengers.

RailUK Forums

paddyb6 · 4 May 2026

tfw756rider said:
I came across something at 4:00 in this video by SimOnTrains uploaded on Sun 26/4/26 (cropped still frames attached at the bottom of this post). 230008 appears to now have a special livery with the Network North Wales logo and illustrations in a similar style to the ones on the Active Travel 153s.

All TfW Class 230s have this updated branding, advertising Network North Wales and the route.

Peter Sarf · 4 May 2026

tfw756rider said:
I came across something at 4:00 in this video by SimOnTrains uploaded on Sun 26/4/26 (cropped still frames attached at the bottom of this post). 230008 appears to now have a special livery with the Network North Wales logo and illustrations in a similar style to the ones on the Active Travel 153s.

What a really good idea.

Some people might not like this embellishment BUT it is right where the tagging gets done on most trains so hopefully stops that eyesore.

Russel · 4 May 2026

Peter Sarf said:
What a really good idea.

Some people might not like this embellishment BUT it is right where the tagging gets done on most trains so hopefully stops that eyesore.

I think it looks good, but I doubt it would have anything more than minimal impact on if the train gets tagged or not.

DS25 · 4 May 2026

tfw756rider said:
I came across something at 4:00 in this video by SimOnTrains uploaded on Sun 26/4/26 (cropped still frames attached at the bottom of this post). 230008 appears to now have a special livery with the Network North Wales logo and illustrations in a similar style to the ones on the Active Travel 153s.

I quite like the liveries on the AT 153's and the 230's, i wonder if we'll see an ETCS 197 receive Cambrian branding

tfw756rider · 4 May 2026

DS25 said:
I quite like the liveries on the AT 153's and the 230's, i wonder if we'll see an ETCS 197 receive Cambrian branding

Probably only a name at most, due to the Cambrian/Birmingham/Holyhead circuit. Wrong thread though

Sheridan · 4 May 2026

tfw756rider said:
Probably only a name at most, due to the Cambrian/Birmingham/Holyhead circuit. Wrong thread though

Acknowledging that I’m carrying on an off-topic discussion, I don’t think that would be a hindrance - they’d still spend a huge amount of time on the Cambrian or travelling to or from it. Other TOCs have had liveries for specific lines which then travel much further abroad.

Zontar · 5 May 2026

tfw756rider said:
I came across something at 4:00 in this video by SimOnTrains uploaded on Sun 26/4/26 (cropped still frames attached at the bottom of this post). 230008 appears to now have a special livery with the Network North Wales logo and illustrations in a similar style to the ones on the Active Travel 153s.

Been on for months. Makes them more reliable

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 May 2026 ==

cole_peter5@ said:
I can't understand why the TFW don't completely dump the class 230 they are just dumping money on them when
everyone but the boss at TFW see this why don't they get rid of the them and turn the line over to 153 or 150 much more
reliable than these - if they don't do something soon they will have no passengers.

Plenty of people on here who won't have a bad word said against them and think they are here to save the day.

Peter Sarf · 5 May 2026

cole_peter5@ said:
I can't understand why the TFW don't completely dump the class 230 they are just dumping money on them when
everyone but the boss at TFW see this why don't they get rid of the them and turn the line over to 153 or 150 much more
reliable than these - if they don't do something soon they will have no passengers.

How much money do you think TfW are having to "dump" on them and how much would replacements cost ?.

Caaardiff · 5 May 2026

Zontar said:
Been on for months. Makes them more reliable

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 May 2026 ==

Plenty of people on here who won't have a bad word said against them and think they are here to save the day.

I dont think anyone on here views them as 'saving the day'
But most realise there has been considerable investment in them and there's not really any immediate alternatives to replace them without other routes suffering.

cole_peter5@ said:
I can't understand why the TFW don't completely dump the class 230 they are just dumping money on them when
everyone but the boss at TFW see this why don't they get rid of the them and turn the line over to 153 or 150 much more
reliable than these - if they don't do something soon they will have no passengers.

150s are leaving the TFW fleet and train crew in the North no longer sign them, as well as 153s.

153s are being used in the south currently and cannot keep time on the Bidston line. They would also be very far from Canton who maintain them, so in the result of any failure it would be difficult to
A) Rescue them
B) Get then to a depot to fix
C) Get a replacement to restore the service.

With 230s at least they are near the Depot that maintains them and rarely actually need rescuing as a complete failure.

tfw756rider · 5 May 2026

Zontar said:
Been on for months. Makes them more reliable

Ah yes, I remember now

Steve B · 6 May 2026

I'm curious - 230007 is showing on RTT today as being 2 coaches. That surely isn't right or even possible is it?

Steve B

Philip Roberts · 25 Jun 2026

They seem to be pretty reliable of late, even considering the extreme heat?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Jun 2026 ==

And back up to three on the services today

Penmorfa · 27 Jun 2026

Philip Roberts said:
They seem to be pretty reliable of late, even considering the extreme heat?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Jun 2026 ==

And back up to three on the services today

A few months more like that and we could see two trains an hour. The train every 45 minutes is impossible to remember

Philip Roberts · 27 Jun 2026

Penmorfa said:
A few months more like that and we could see two trains an hour. The train every 45 minutes is impossible to remember

I don't envy you at all. I bet it's annoying

Caaardiff · 27 Jun 2026

Penmorfa said:
A few months more like that and we could see two trains an hour. The train every 45 minutes is impossible to remember

I belive they did 3 days with all 3 out, and only 1 of those days went well.

Dont be too hopefully of a 30 min service.
Isn't that the whole point of 'check before you travel'?

TheSel · 28 Jun 2026

Penmorfa said:
A few months more like that and we could see two trains an hour. The train every 45 minutes is impossible to remember

It's a shame they don't publish a timetable, say on the internet, or have it printed somewhere, like ... oh I don't know, maybe at stations - to avoid the need to 'remember' it. :oops:

Philip Roberts · 28 Jun 2026

TheSel said:
It's a shame they don't publish a timetable, say on the internet, or have it printed somewhere, like ... oh I don't know, maybe at stations - to avoid the need to 'remember' it.

I don't look at the timetable for my line. It's consistent every hour so I can remember it :rolleyes:

Djgr · 28 Jun 2026

Penmorfa said:
A few months more like that and we could see two trains an hour. The train every 45 minutes is impossible to remember

I beleive that infrastructure work is required on the Penyffordd area to move to a half hourly service, rather than anything to do with actual trains.

RichardAsh1981 · 28 Jun 2026

Djgr said:
I beleive that infrastructure work is required on the Penyffordd area to move to a half hourly service, rather than anything to do with actual trains.

As reported in this month's Modern Railways, this work was funded in the 2025 spending review and is now going through pre-application consultation, i.e. the start of the planning system, presumably for the sidings expansion outside the railway fence.

Xenophon PCDGS · 29 Jun 2026

During last week's heatwave, how did the Class 230 units cope with the high temperatures in North East Wales?

Steve B · 29 Jun 2026

Xenophon PCDGS said:
During last week's heatwave, how did the Class 230 units cope with the high temperatures in North East Wales?

Looking at RTT the answer seems to be "not brilliantly", but they did run.

Monday: 2 x 230, 1x197. 1 230 round trip cancelled in the late afternoon evening
Tuesday: 2 x 230, 1 x 197. the 230s were swapped with other 230s during the day - several cancellations (initially due to "a problem with the train crew" - thereafter "due to a late arrival"...)
Wednesday: 2 x 230, 1 x 197. Normal service - no swaps.
Thursday: 3 x 230. Several cancellations, particularly late afternoon and evening.
Friday: 3 x 230. Several cancellations and no evening service.
Saturday: 2 x 230, 1 x 197. Full service (albeit with some late running)

Given the previous vulnerability of the 230s to overheating I'm not entirely surprised that they seem to have struggled a bit in the higher than normal temps, but I'd be interested to know what the problems actually were, and whether TFW were being a bit cautious and pulling them before things got serious. There were certainly many cancellations across TFW services elsewhere due to "more trains needing repair than normal" due to the high temps, particularly on Shrewsbury to Birmingham (I know - I was travelling that route), the Cambrian, and 197s also appeared to be thin on the ground (which may be the reason that there were 3 x 230s for a couple of days on the Bidstons).

My general observation is that they have generally been more reliable lately, and all 5 of them have been operating (009 had disappeared for several weeks).

The exile · 29 Jun 2026

Steve B said:
Looking at RTT the answer seems to be "not brilliantly", but they did run.

Monday: 2 x 230, 1x197. 1 230 round trip cancelled in the late afternoon evening
Tuesday: 2 x 230, 1 x 197. the 230s were swapped with other 230s during the day - several cancellations (initially due to "a problem with the train crew" - thereafter "due to a late arrival"...)
Wednesday: 2 x 230, 1 x 197. Normal service - no swaps.
Thursday: 3 x 230. Several cancellations, particularly late afternoon and evening.
Friday: 3 x 230. Several cancellations and no evening service.
Saturday: 2 x 230, 1 x 197. Full service (albeit with some late running)

Given the previous vulnerability of the 230s to overheating I'm not entirely surprised that they seem to have struggled a bit in the higher than normal temps, but I'd be interested to know what the problems actually were, and whether TFW were being a bit cautious and pulling them before things got serious. There were certainly many cancellations across TFW services elsewhere due to "more trains needing repair than normal" due to the high temps, particularly on Shrewsbury to Birmingham (I know - I was travelling that route), the Cambrian, and 197s also appeared to be thin on the ground (which may be the reason that there were 3 x 230s for a couple of days on the Bidstons).

My general observation is that they have generally been more reliable lately, and all 5 of them have been operating (009 had disappeared for several weeks).

That seems to compare pretty favourably with other areas operating older diesels (certainly GW - which is the one I was tending to look at). I know they’re not “elderly diesels” but they have been known for being prone to heat-related problems.

MotCO · 29 Jun 2026

Steve B said:
Looking at RTT the answer seems to be "not brilliantly", but they did run.

Monday: 2 x 230, 1x197. 1 230 round trip cancelled in the late afternoon evening
Tuesday: 2 x 230, 1 x 197. the 230s were swapped with other 230s during the day - several cancellations (initially due to "a problem with the train crew" - thereafter "due to a late arrival"...)
Wednesday: 2 x 230, 1 x 197. Normal service - no swaps.
Thursday: 3 x 230. Several cancellations, particularly late afternoon and evening.
Friday: 3 x 230. Several cancellations and no evening service.
Saturday: 2 x 230, 1 x 197. Full service (albeit with some late running)

Given the previous vulnerability of the 230s to overheating I'm not entirely surprised that they seem to have struggled a bit in the higher than normal temps, but I'd be interested to know what the problems actually were, and whether TFW were being a bit cautious and pulling them before things got serious. There were certainly many cancellations across TFW services elsewhere due to "more trains needing repair than normal" due to the high temps, particularly on Shrewsbury to Birmingham (I know - I was travelling that route), the Cambrian, and 197s also appeared to be thin on the ground (which may be the reason that there were 3 x 230s for a couple of days on the Bidstons).

My general observation is that they have generally been more reliable lately, and all 5 of them have been operating (009 had disappeared for several weeks).

Was any of the late running due to high temperature speed restrictions?

Steve B · 30 Jun 2026

MotCO said:
Was any of the late running due to high temperature speed restrictions?

I don't know, but given that most of the line is 40mph max there may not be much need to reduce it further!

Anecdotally, it is sometimes the case that late running is blamed on "these *** trains", but like anywhere else some delays are caused by other factors - misbehaving members of the public, sick members of the public (and sometimes crew), taking time to assist passengers with accessibility requirements, signalling issues , staffing issues (eg. a delay on the main line means that a crew swap gets delayed because the new crew isn't there on time. There are also problems dealing with late or out of order freight trains, and Merseyrail problems can cause delays at Bidston. All of these can be exacerbated by high temps and I've experienced all of these on this line - but that doesn't mean that the trains don't have their own problems. Anecdotally again, it seems to me that things have generally improved, and, lately, my regular Shrewsbury to Hawarden journey has had more problems between Shrewsbury and Wrexham!

Snow1964 · 1 Jul 2026

Still the unusual number of unrepaired trains, but the notice says disruption will only be until end of today.

Due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time between Wrexham General (WRX) and Chester (CTR):
Services may be cancelled in both directions between Wrexham General (WRX) and Chester (CTR).
We expect the incident to last until the end of the day and disruption to services is expected until the end of the day.

What's Happened?
Due to a shortage of trains, fewer trains are able to run between Wrexham General and Chester.

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chrisjo · 1 Jul 2026

Snow1964 said:
Still the unusual number of unrepaired trains, but the notice says disruption will only be until end of today.

That's 197's, not 230's.

Djgr · 1 Jul 2026

Snow1964 said:
Still the unusual number of unrepaired trains, but the notice says disruption will only be until end of today.

Homepage | Transport for Wales

Transport for Wales | Buy Cheap Train Tickets and Check Train Times

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This refers to the line between Wrexham and Chester, not the Borderlands Bidston-Wrexham line where the 230s operate.

CaergwrleKen · 1 Jul 2026

The 230s are still indirectly causing problems because they are using a 197 on Bidston-Wrexham when they shouldn’t be and trains such as Wrexham-Chester and Blaenau Ffestiniog are getting cancelled. We had a couple of days of 3 230s last week but they didn’t last of course.

Wyrleybart · 2 Jul 2026

CaergwrleKen said:
The 230s are still indirectly causing problems because they are using a 197 on Bidston-Wrexham when they shouldn’t be and trains such as Wrexham-Chester and Blaenau Ffestiniog are getting cancelled. We had a couple of days of 3 230s last week but they didn’t last of course.

And that is based on five class 230s to cover three diagrams.
Are they still swapping the 230s part way through the day, or do they last a complete diagram now ?

Transport for Wales Class 230

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