Posted: Sat 24th Nov 2018

No trains on the Wrexham to Bidston line today – Lead Member says ‘this is not acceptable’

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area
This article is old - Published: Saturday, Nov 24th, 2018

Transport for Wales have pulled all train services from the Wrexham to Bidston line today due to the need for extra ‘capacity’ in Cardiff for the Wales v South Africa rugby international.

UPDATE: Cllr David A Bithell, Wrexham Council’s Lead Member Environment & Transport, told us this morning he is ‘urgently writing’ to the Cabinet Secretary Ken Skates “asking for an investigation into effectively why there is NO Transport for Wales on the Wrexham Bidston Line where rolling stock is preferred in South Wales”.

He added: “There appears to be some significant issues with a shortage of rolling stock in Wales following the franchise change only a few weeks ago. This is not acceptable and does little to support the local economy in Wrexham.”

Original information below…

TfW say: “Throughout Saturday there will be less capacity available than usual for a major event day and some services will run as a rail replacement bus service.”

A bus service taking around twice as long as a normal train journey between Wrexham and Bidston will operated as a rail replacement: Link to timetable

A statement from TfW says:

“Ongoing issues associated with recent storms in combination with ageing trains have led to an unprecedented number, around a third, of trains being out of service, and this has meant that reduced services are running across the network.

Many services have been amended and priority given to the areas of greatest need.”

Taking rolling stock from Wrexham to Bidston line to service lines in Cardiff is nothing new.

Arriva Trains Wales began doing the same on weekends when large scale sporting events were taking place in the Welsh capital, TfW have carried on with the same practice.

Two weeks ago when an international rugby match was taking place in Cardiff on the Saturday the last train Wrexham to Bidston train on Friday night was cancelled and a reduced service operated over the line on Saturday.

Over the past week passengers using stations along the Wrexham to Bidston line which includes Shotton High Level, have been suffering disrupted journeys due to the train company running a reduced service.

There has only been one train operating on the line which has meant trains running every two hours, with the replacement bus service filling the gaps left in the timetable.

By contrast passengers commuting along the Rhymney line from Caerphilly and Cardiff have enjoyed a disruption free ‘Good Service’ with trains pulling up to the platform every 15 minutes or so.

It’s a significant comparison, both the Rhymney and Wrexham – Bidston lines are serviced by the same Class 150 diesel multi unit trains.

While there is just one train operating on what Alyn and Deeside MP Mark Tami describes as the “incredibly important line” through Flintshire, local lines around Cardiff and the Valleys appears to have running normal times tables with little to no disruption.

A snapshot of TfW routes show a ‘Good Service’ on Valleys and Cardiff Local routes compared to disruption elsewhere in Wales.

 

Yesterday we looked to next week, with a confusing picture as we are firmly told there will be trains not buses on the route – however the public info has buses – more here.



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