Disruption to Rail Services

Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:27 pm on 15 June 2022.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 3:27, 15 June 2022

Well, again, at least some of the righteous indignation that's perceived in this Chamber from the Conservatives could be rightly directed to getting the right amount of rail infrastructure investment into Wales, couldn't it? So, please do direct it in that direction occasionally.

However, we absolutely, of course, accept that the level of service provided to passengers by TfW over that weekend was not good enough, and we absolutely understand the frustration. We have a limited capacity in relation to current rolling stock, and you already know, and I won't repeat again, that the brand-new trains that are being built and tested now will increase capacity. The long-term solution to overcrowding on event days is, of course, increased capacity, and we're working hard to deliver that through the new trains and increased services in our timetables. None of those things can happen overnight, and TfW is one of the only services to go back to pre-pandemic timetables, just to be clear.

I also think you need to acknowledge that with events such as these concerts, there is significant demand for additional capacity and services for passengers travelling from and back to Bristol, Birmingham, London, et cetera, and those services are run by Great Western Railway and CrossCountry Trains, who only operate the level of service agreed by the UK Government. So, again, directing some of your apparently righteous indignation towards the UK Government would actually be very welcome here.

We are clear what we want to do, and we are clear that we want to introduce the new rolling stock across Wales. We are also clear that people who live locally should try and use other forms of transport on event days. I am also very clear that if you go to a major event, you cannot expect to simply vacate the car park in 1.5 minutes. I love attending live music events; I absolutely accept that it's going to take me longer to get out of the city that I've gone to, and that's any city that you go to those events in, because the transport system is set up for normal operation and some peak. It is not set up to empty Wembley Stadium, for example. So, if you go there, you wait in queues to come out because that's part of the experience; that's what happens. I don't understand what you think we would do with the increased capacity on all the other days of the week. That's not an efficient way to run a railway service. 

Nevertheless, it was very disappointing to see the overcrowding on TfW services in north Wales over the weekend, and we have asked them to make every effort to focus resources at the busiest services and ensure that passenger communication is absolutely timely and to point. We're also in the process of loaning two additional trains from Northern Trains, in addition to the brand-new CAF trains planned to enter service later this year, which will enable that additional capacity to be provided on busy services and to support events.