This publication has long railed — yes, the use of that word is intentional — against Transport for Wales and its utter failure to provide the people of this region with decent train services. And for as long as we’ve complained, TfW has failed to improve the quality of its services.
If you live along the M4 corridor close to Cardiff and Swansea, live in the fashionable belt between Wrexham and Cheshire, or along the A55 corridor, TfW rail services are up to expectations.
Here, where we depend on the single line Cambrian railway network, TfW live down to all of our lowly expectations.
Now, a damning report looking at the quality of the services provided by our national rail company makes for truly sad reading indeed.
What trains we have are woefully inadequate and overcrowded.
The survey was told of numerous instances where families had to sit in the toilets for their trips.
When trains do come, they are overcrowded. And dangerously so. Yes, so full that the sheer weight of passengers squeezed into the trains represents a danger to those who can get on.
WiFi services are poor. Toilets are inadequate or too often simply out of service.
The trains are so crowded, ticket collectors are unable to pass through to see if the passengers have tickets for their journeys. Tickets? TfW should be paying the travelling public to use their poor services. Cattle are treated better.
It is important to stress that the staff who man these trains work wonders with what they’re given. The blame does not rest with them. No, the blame for this rests in Cardiff and those responsible for running these services.
Sure, those folks will be quick to point out that brand-spanking new trains will be coming to the Cambrian line by 2025. We’ve heard that before, so too the promise of hourly train service.
But what the clowns running TfW won’t tell you is that those new trains are unsuitable for the Cambrian line. TfW wants a one-size-fits-all solution. Those new trains actually have fewer seats and are meant for those commuter lines to the north, east and south — not for us here in west Wales.
So the reality then is that we haven’t been listened too. TfW knows best. And what we’re experiencing now will only get worse when those new trains eventually come along.
TfW couldn’t run a model train set.