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I see that 1M18 (Aberdare to Cardiff via City Line) was running late this morning (31 Dec 2024). To make up time, this train skipped City Line stops at Danescourt, Fairwater & Waungron Park. This has happened before leaving people stranded for another 30 minutes due to the low frequency on this route through western Cardiff.
Surely, if a train coming down from Aberdare is running late, then it should skip the stops between Abercynon or Pontypridd and Radyr as this section of line has a higher frequency of trains than the City Line in west Cardiff?
I see that 1M18 (Aberdare to Cardiff via City Line) was running late this morning (31 Dec 2024). To make up time, this train skipped City Line stops at Danescourt, Fairwater & Waungron Park. This has happened before leaving people stranded for another 30 minutes due to the low frequency on this route through western Cardiff.
Surely, if a train coming down from Aberdare is running late, then it should skip the stops between Abercynon or Pontypridd and Radyr as this section of line has a higher frequency of trains than the City Line in west Cardiff?
2B26 from Pontypridd to Cardiff Bay went out in front in front of 1M18 and 1M18 was right behind, so 1M18 skipping stops north of Radyr would've done nothing, especially as the train would have to be held at Pontypridd for orders to be issued and passengers for intermediate stations detrained.
This has happened to me quite frequently on my way to work. For over 20 years I commuted from Aberdare to Llandaf but since the route has changed I now go from Aberdare to Danescourt. In theory this should be better for me, as Danescourt station is nearer to my office than Llandaf. Unfortunately, they frequently announce that the train will run non-stop from Radyr to Cardiff. They don't usually announce this until the train is at Taffs Well. Most of the guards will come down the train informing passengers, which is a good thing, as I think if they just relied on an announcement many people wouldn't get the message. I tend to expect it if we're running late. I usually get just get off at Radyr and wait for the next train to Llandaf rather than hang around for half an hour waiting for the next train to Danescourt. On a nice day I'd probably just walk.
It's annoying for me but doesn't really seem to affect most people on the train as the vast majority are usually heading to Central anyway. I feel sorry for the poor buggers waiting at the City Line stations though. They only get one service in each direction every half hour and I imagine many of them will already be on their way to the station before the cancellation has been announced. It sometimes happens twice in a row as well, or will happen when the preceding or following train has already been cancelled due to other issues (lack of trains or crew etc.). It's even more annoying when it happens in the opposite direction on the way home.
It would obviously make more sense to skip Trefforest, Trefforest Estate and Taffs Well as these stations have 8 trains an hour in each direction. Occasionally they do this but skipping the City Line stations seems to be the far more frequent solution. I've always assumed that it's some sort of timing issue and the decision has to be made pretty quickly if they're going to skip Trefforest-Taffs Well. If the delay happens at Mountain Ash there seems to be more chance of them skipping Trefforest-Taffs Well. Delays further down the line perhaps make it more difficult to do that?
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2B26 from Pontypridd to Cardiff Bay went out in front in front of 1M18 and 1M18 was right behind, so 1M18 skipping stops north of Radyr would've done nothing, especially as the train would have to be held at Pontypridd for orders to be issued and passengers for intermediate stations detrained.
Wouldn't it have been a better option to hold 2B26 (which leaves from the bay platform) until 1M18 arrived at Ponty? I think it left Ponty 5 minutes after 2B26 was due to leave. After all, they tell passengers on the Aberdare Line travelling to Llandaf, Cathays and Queen Street to change at Ponty to get on that train. They made great play of "extra options" when they changed the timetable, though I think most regular passengers saw through that as a public relations exercise in attempting to put a positive slant on a new timetable that was generally worse for many people who'd been travelling from the Cynon Valley to Llandaf, Cathays and Queen Street for decades.
Obviously, I've never worked in train operations, so I imagine there were several good reasons why it wasn't possible to hold 2B26 for 5 minutes.
Pat Figg (above) - I couldn’t agree with you more and thanks for backing up my assertion that it is stops between Pontypridd and Radyr that should be skipped in the event of late running and not those on the City Line which only has a half hourly service. As you said, it would have been far better to hold 2B26 at Pontypridd and give passengers on 1M18 the option to transfer to get 1M18 back to time and allow for the stops on the City Line. (People for Llandaff north and Cathays might have preferred this option in anycase).
If they keep pulling this stunt - leaving passengers waiting at City line stations only to see their train go flying through, then these people will give up on the trains and all the money put into extending City Line platforms will be going down the drain. That being the case, perhaps they should cancel now work on the so called interchange with buses at Waungron Park.
Wouldn't it have been a better option to hold 2B26 (which leaves from the bay platform) until 1M18 arrived at Ponty? I think it left Ponty 5 minutes after 2B26 was due to leave. After all, they tell passengers on the Aberdare Line travelling to Llandaf, Cathays and Queen Street to change at Ponty to get on that train. They made great play of "extra options" when they changed the timetable, though I think most regular passengers saw through that as a public relations exercise in attempting to put a positive slant on a new timetable that was generally worse for many people who'd been travelling from the Cynon Valley to Llandaf, Cathays and Queen Street for decades.
Obviously, I've never worked in train operations, so I imagine there were several good reasons why it wasn't possible to hold 2B26 for 5 minutes.
Holding 2B26 for 1M18 to go out first would have delayed 2B26 by 10 minutes, meaning a QS-Bay run would need to be cancelled. If there was any need for passenger assist, this could have delayed both services further delaying 2J12 on the up line awaiting platform 1, delaying 1A14 behind it.
Holding 2B26 for 1M18 to go out first would have delayed 2B26 by 10 minutes, meaning a QS-Bay run would need to be cancelled. If there was any need for passenger assist, this could have delayed both services further delaying 2J12 on the up line awaiting platform 1, delaying 1A14 behind it.
Thank you. Yes, it seems whatever they do will have consequences for other services, some not always obvious to most passengers, including me. This Aberdare-Merthyr loop does seem to be very problematic though. There just isn't enough time to make up for any delays, though many of these seem to be caused by train failures so hopefully things will improve as the 150s get phased out.
As well as frequently missing out City Line stations, barely a day goes by without several trains destined for Aberdare or Merthyr terminating short at Fernhill/Mountain Ash or Troed-y-rhiw/Merthyr Vale.
Same occurrence has just happened with 1M14 (0751 Aberdare to Merthyr Tydfil). Has skipped out Danescourt, Fairwater and Waun-Gron Park but I notice trains still call at Ninian Park.
Leaving these stations with an hourly service once again.
It would seem more logical to still run all stops into Cardiff via the City Line and then perhaps omit Cathays and Llandaff on the way back seeing as they've also got the Cardiff Bay shuttles and the Treherbert services but perhaps this wasn't feasible.
Just proves that the City Line is the least of TFW's worries; there are frequent(ish) Cardiff Buses from these stations so I can understand why but still not great, especially having to physically watch the train hurtle past a mere four minutes late....
It would seem more logical to still run all stops into Cardiff via the City Line and then perhaps omit Cathays and Llandaff on the way back seeing as they've also got the Cardiff Bay shuttles and the Treherbert services but perhaps this wasn't feasible.
Not looking good today. 1A14 did not make it to Aberdare but only as far as Aberdare. Problem with (FLIRT) train according to RTT. 1M26 cancelled completely due to points failure.
I guess that late running trains will always stop at Ninian Park because that it where the crews get on/off for Canton depot.
Yes it would make much more sense skipping trefforest Estate for example which is barely even used yet still has a frequent service. I was riding some of the valley lines the other day and I found stations from radyr-pontypridd were very easy to visit yet doing the city line stations were hard (I had to walk between stations to do them)
Who could have predicted that not having much in the way of recovery time on those Aberdare to/from Merthyr Tydfil services would result in stations being ripped out, considering the single track sections on both routes north of Abercynon.
Ideal world, those trains would have booked dwells of at least 4 minutes at Cardiff Central to allow for passengers to unload & reload considering I would imagine Cardiff Central on those services is similar to Birmingham New Street on the Cross City line (and other 'cross' Birmingham routes) & Manchester Piccadilly with services from Liverpool in having a good turnover of passengers with the percentage of passengers remaining on board whom boarded by Ninian Park at Llandaf being quite low
Who could have predicted that not having much in the way of recovery time on those Aberdare to/from Merthyr Tydfil services would result in stations being ripped out, considering the single track sections on both routes north of Abercynon.
Ideal world, those trains would have booked dwells of at least 4 minutes at Cardiff Central to allow for passengers to unload & reload considering I would imagine Cardiff Central on those services is similar to Birmingham New Street on the Cross City line (and other 'cross' Birmingham routes) & Manchester Piccadilly with services from Liverpool in having a good turnover of passengers with the percentage of passengers remaining on board whom boarded by Ninian Park at Llandaf being quite low
Yes the trains effectively should become a different service and Cardiff central with basically everyone getting off and on there. That would also fix the next station screens in the trains from saying the wrong times at radyr-abercynon as they stop at the stations on that section on the way up and down
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