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Rail Express this month has a long feature with an interview with Marie Daly, who is chief operating officer with TfW. She is quoted saying that the plan for the 398s is to be fully in service by May 2027. Edit: direct quote added at moderator’s request:

Looks like we had some 398 problems this afternoon - units terminating short and skipping stops. I saw 398018 zip through Cathays with “not in service” on the destination board, heading for the Bay https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/simple/gb-nr:CYS/2026-09-11/1600

Here’s the technical explanation from Modern Railways, quoting an unnamed TfW spokesperson: 1789654567 We finally have some news on Butetown station: a consultation document has been published which explains that Butetown's Down platform 2 (Lloyd George Avenue side) is planned to open on...

A brief piece in Modern Railways' September issue drew my attention to the release of the April TfW board minutes which mention that part of the delay to 398 introduction was caused by electrification concerns around the Intersection Bridge just south of Queen St. Quoting the minutes: Modern...

It appears that the December timetable has been loaded up for the Treherbert line. It is shown with 4tph Mon-Sat (2tph to Cardiff Bay, 2tph terminating at Central) and journey times are unchanged. The spacing is pretty good, with trains at alternating 14 and 16 minute intervals. Trains to the...

I suspect a lot of this is driven by design requirements for spacing, coverage and placement with respect to the train stopping points. There may also have been a desire to use separate poles so that maintenance or repair on one system doesn’t affect the others. But I agree it’s messy.

TfW have moved to a new web platform for their procurement which requires a login, so the contracts on Sell2Wales and FindATender look like they've been abandoned. EDIT - I've managed to get an account and log in, but it only shows very limited details of the contracts being advertised, and no...

Swanline doesn't run on Sundays, so stations like Briton Ferry have no Sunday service.

Definitely in service as I saw it running on the Bay line. 1788249455 RealTimeTrains also notes that the route timings for the rescue train was for a maximum of 33mph (about 50km/h in metric), and it didn't keep up to those timings, so was definitely going pretty slowly...

Some years ago, TfW agreed new working arrangements with their trades unions to make Sunday a rostered working day rather than relying on staff volunteering to work Sundays. This allows more services to be operated on a Sunday, and we have seen some improvements. For example, the Rhymney and...

Running the Merthyr-Aberdare loop service at 4tph in each direction isn't presently feasible as the City Line can't cope with more than 2tph in each direction - it'll have to wait for the Cardiff West Junction upgrade. It would be possible to use the 2tph slots that are currently used to...

No, there will be no wires at Queen St - the gantries at either end of the station are to carry the high-voltage cables over the track. Part of the strategy for the discontinuous electrification is to avoid electrification of junctions as much as possible. 1787660534 There's an electrification...

I believe it needs four, based on the trains allocated to it today. 1787660268 But bear in mind that you may need double units to handle the loading at peak times.

The Rhondda line has been talked about for quite a while as the next stage of the 398 rollout, so this checks out. The stations are very close together so the brisk acceleration on the 398s will make a big difference here.

They're needed to increase the service to much beyond its present pattern - at the moment each of the TAM lines has 2tph to Central, and there's also the 2tph Pontypridd-Cardiff Bay service. I believe that the Pontypridd service will eventually be extended to Treherbert once they have enough...

It's worth noting that the upgrades to Queen Street South Junction (which I think are booked for April next year) are going to provide a big increase in capacity through Queen St in order to support the enhanced service, and that involves extending the platform loop for platform 5 towards...

Yes, which is why the current (funded) plans involve an upgrade to Cardiff West Junction so that it can handle more train movements.

Why? Track capacity between Central and Queen St not the limiting constraint - you're not going to be able to use that extra track capacity without extra platforms at Queen Street. Platform capacity at both Central and Queen St is a much bigger problem than track capacity, and a lack of capacity...

Unusually though, the 398s have both the unit number and the vehicle number displayed in the passenger saloons of each coach, so at least if you're on the train, you know which one it is!

I don't know. The 399s and the Croydon trams both have the unit number on the "chin" below the windscreen. Given that the unit number is primarily there for the benefit of railway staff, I'm sure that if the lack of it causes a problem operationally the 398s will have them vinyled on later...