Royal Welsh Show Train

[Mark Carter]

I see the first day of the annual 06.57 Cardiff Central to Builth Road and this evenings return has been cancelled this morning due to staff shortages for the busiest week by far on the Heart of Wales line. The other services appear to be single class 153. Then 2 later return journeys only run halfway , staff shortages and breakdown. All makes for a fun day

 

[Jez]

Not a good day for the Heart of Wales line.

As well as the Cardiff to Builth Road special train being cancelled the first 2 through trains from the South this morning were formed of 1 carriage. OK I guess not many people would want to travel that early on the 6am train but the one leaving around 9am and arriving in Builth Road around 11am would be popular.

The 1138 Swansea-Shrewsbury was terminated at Llanwrtyd!

In the other direction the 0857 from Shrewsbury was 1 hour late but at least formed of 3 cars.

 

[gazthomas]

Just a normal day in TfW land, where customers come last

 

[allaction]

Staff shortages at the Carmarthen base caused the cancellation of the special to and from Cardiff Central, it seems.

I’m not sure what caused the other problems.

 

[Mark Carter]

The special train has already been cancelled for tomorrow. Heart of Wales had buses all weekend. Closure by stealth? Also TFW have been selling discounted tickets for the show although still £30 so if train is cancelled do customers get a refund on those as well? You would have thought for the 4 days of the show, they would have tried to get the service to work

 

[Kite159]

The special train has already been cancelled for tomorrow. Heart of Wales had buses all weekend. Closure by stealth? Also TFW have been selling discounted tickets for the show although still £30 so if train is cancelled do customers get a refund on those as well? You would have thought for the 4 days of the show, they would have tried to get the service to work

Or school holidays have started meaning less staff are available with TfW putting other services ahead of the Heart of Wales line.

 

[70014IronDuke]

I find it tragic reading this thread. I'm sure thousands of people, both in the rail industry and local volunteers, have put in an effort over the years to try to promote the HoW. And then, on the three days of the year that it could really show its value to a wider audience in south Wales (at least), these Cardiff through trains are cancelled.

 

[John R]

I wonder if any Senedd politicians were impacted. That wouldn’t endear TfW to them.

 

[Llanigraham]

Just a normal day in TfW land, where customers come last

If there are no staff available what else were they supposed to do? Pull suitably trained crews off another service so that doesn't run instead?

 

[RJ]

I see the first day of the annual 06.57 Cardiff Central to Builth Road and this evenings return has been cancelled this morning due to staff shortages for the busiest week by far on the Heart of Wales line. The other services appear to be single class 153. Then 2 later return journeys only run halfway , staff shortages and breakdown. All makes for a fun day

I drove the 06:57 rail replacement service ex Cardiff with a Citaro and picked up a few people along the way. Arrived at the showground at 10:30. The last 3 miles took about 40 minutes.

 

[Llandudno]

If there are no staff available what else were they supposed to do? Pull suitably trained crews off another service so that doesn't run instead?

Should never have had advertised the extra services and admission tickets in the first place if you can’t guarantee the service would run.

Abject!

 

[allaction]

It’s time for politicians and the media to take a long, hard look at the running of TfW and determine who bears responsibility.

 

[Anonymous10]

Staff shortages at the Carmarthen base caused the cancellation of the special to and from Cardiff Central, it seems.

I’m not sure what caused the other problems.

Sounds like a normal day in West Wales.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Jul 2023 ==

Should never have had advertised the extra services and admission tickets in the first place if you can’t guarantee the service would run.

Abject!

To be fair there is such a thing as sick leave which you can't predict. Not saying this should happen though.

 

[Woolos 22]

I wonder if any Senedd politicians were impacted. That wouldn’t endear TfW to them.

They would use the T4 bus service to travel there from cardiff

 

[yorkie]

Also TFW have been selling discounted tickets for the show although still £30 so if train is cancelled do customers get a refund on those as well?

If the customer chose not to travel, and not visit the show, yes a full refund on the entire package would be applicable.

 

[70014IronDuke]

If there are no staff available what else were they supposed to do? Pull suitably trained crews off another service so that doesn't run instead?

Well, possibly yes.

The problem being that the relative damage done to (say) the cancellation of 1 TPH service losing (say) 3 return trips a day on (say) a Valley's service would inconvenience more passengers, but cause less damage in proportion to the damage done to - in the case of a normal day on the HoW - the cancellation of perhaps two return trips from (say) Swansea to Llanwrytd.

Even if these Cardiff - Builth Rd service(s) carry fewer passengers than the services that would lose out if the crews/stock were used elsewhere, the loss of these trains absolutly ruins any chance of passengers who would use the service to get to the show by rail.

It's a policy decision - for three days in the year, possibly these should take priority, assuming that is they have been advertised.

 

[robert thomas]

Well, possibly yes.

The problem being that the relative damage done to (say) the cancellation of 1 TPH service losing (say) 3 return trips a day on (say) a Valley's service would inconvenience more passengers, but cause less damage in proportion to the damage done to - in the case of a normal day on the HoW - the cancellation of perhaps two return trips from (say) Swansea to Llanwrytd.

Even if these Cardiff - Builth Rd service(s) carry fewer passengers than the services that would lose out if the crews/stock were used elsewhere, the loss of these trains absolutly ruins any chance of passengers who would use the service to get to the show by rail.

It's a policy decision - for three days in the year, possibly these should take priority, assuming that is they have been advertised.

Only Carmarthen crews sign the bottom end of the Heart of(Central) Wales

 

[Llanigraham]

Only Carmarthen crews sign the bottom end of the Heart of(Central) Wales

Quite, but as usual people here fail to recognise that.

 

[chris_in_salop]

Quite, but as usual people here fail to recognise that.

Why should a customer care about operational trivia like that?

 

[Llanigraham]

Why should a customer care about operational trivia like that?

So you consider that it would be a trivial matter to just find a driver in a depot somewhere and tell him to take a train out and drive along a route he doesn't know, possibly in a unit he hasn't driven?
Oh dear!!

 

[Jez]

So you consider that it would be a trivial matter to just find a driver in a depot somewhere and tell him to take a train out and drive along a route he doesn't know, possibly in a unit he hasn't driven?
Oh dear!!

I think what we are saying is, they should have made sure Carmarthen train crew were prioritised to work the HOWL special and all others on the HOWL for the 4 days of the show. It seems totally unacceptable that they have cancelled this service.

If they had to cancel a few other trains and put on replacement buses it would hardly be unusual!

 

[185143]

So you consider that it would be a trivial matter to just find a driver in a depot somewhere and tell him to take a train out and drive along a route he doesn't know, possibly in a unit he hasn't driven?
Oh dear!!

Or she/them?

 

[sd0733]

It's a policy decision - for three days in the year, possibly these should take priority, assuming that is they have been adadvertised.

It's also the case that traincrew can't just be dragged off a shift to cover additional jobs. If there's any spares then obviously they cab be used as long as its within legal movement but anyone on booked work isn't obliged to come off it to cover other jobs and may not even be able to with breaks to next or previous shifts etc. It sounds easy just to move around but it isn't.

At the North end, where crewing is somewhat healthier, a mainline service was sacrificed for a Heart of Wales. A 153 failed on Shrewsbury Abbey Foregate so the 150 on the Manchester to Carmarthen was used instead with that train terminated at Shrewsbury

 

[chris_in_salop]

So you consider that it would be a trivial matter to just find a driver in a depot somewhere and tell him to take a train out and drive along a route he doesn't know, possibly in a unit he hasn't driven?
Oh dear!!

Is this type of excuse made to customers in any other industry?

The Royal Welsh Show has been happening in the same place and same time of year for decades.

Welsh railways run with a skeleton staff and an insufficient number of vehicles. This is a deliberate policy, not some fact of nature.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Only Carmarthen crews sign the bottom end of the Heart of(Central) Wales

Sure, but this is a detail that for the sake of my argument is not the point.

If it makes you feel better, substitute Swansea - Milford Haven for Valleys' service.

It's also the case that traincrew can't just be dragged off a shift to cover additional jobs. If there's any spares then obviously they cab be used as long as its within legal movement but anyone on booked work isn't obliged to come off it to cover other jobs and may not even be able to with breaks to next or previous shifts etc. It sounds easy just to move around but it isn't.

I agree. If there simply is no other crew available to be substituted, the train has to be nixed.

At the North end, where crewing is somewhat healthier, a mainline service was sacrificed for a Heart of Wales. A 153 failed on Shrewsbury Abbey Foregate so the 150 on the Manchester to Carmarthen was used instead with that train terminated at Shrewsbury

That is impressive. (I assume you are saying this was done on one of the Royal Show days?)

 

[sd0733]

That is impressive. (I assume you are saying this was done on one of the Royal Show days?)

Yes this happened yesterday.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Jul 2023 ==

Only Carmarthen crews sign the bottom end of the Heart of(Central) Wales

They do and seeing the position they are clearly in down there the question really is why these services were ever said to be running in the first place when resourcing them was always going to prove a massive challenge.

 

[robert thomas]

The train ran today with 2x150

 

[Western 52]

The train ran today with 2x150

Hopefully it will run tomorrow too as I intend to use it on its return run. Not many trains use the chord at Hendy from the HOWL to the up District Line. Also be interesting to see how busy this train is.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Hopefully it will run tomorrow too as I intend to use it on its return run. Not many trains use the chord at Hendy from the HOWL to the up District Line. Also be interesting to see how busy this train is.

Do any other scheduled trains use this chord, except the Royal Show special workings?

Interesting to know why TfW don't run these trains to/from Llandrindod in traffic, rather than ECS. They go there anyway, and it might attract a handful of extra passengers. Does it actually save them any crewing costs?

Especially like today, as 2V10, the 15.17 Shrewsbury - Swansea was terminated and reversed at Llandod, or so it would seem from RTT.

The Cardiff train would have meant a wait of an hour or so, but it would be better than nothing.

 

[Western 52]

The train is running again today, about 20 minutes late off Cardiff. RTT showed it as a 4 car 150 until last minute, but swapped to a 2 car 153.