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Football fans complain of serious overcrowding on trains from north Wales

11 Jun 2022 3 minute read
Overcrowding on a train heading from north to South Wales today (Credit: Wayne Jones)

Wales football fans travelling from north Wales for today’s Nations League match against Belgium have complained of overcrowding on trains heading to Cardiff.

Fans have hit out at Transport for Wales for providing only two carriages for services on a day they would know to be busy.

One Wales fan travelling to the game, Wayne Jones, posted a picture of the train at Bangor where it was already standing room only.

In another tweet, Mr Jones added that his children were now too scared to travel on the trains.

He posted: “I went last week for the Ukraine game. Kids scared it was that busy. Will not use again until it’s finally corrected to a standard a paying customer deserves. My seat last week was £113 and I stood up penned in all the way. Disgrace of a service.”

Other fans complained of similar issues, while Welsh government minister Lesley Griffiths said the situation was “unacceptable” when she was copied into a tweet about the overcrowding on the service.

Other fans hit out at Transport for Wales and lampooned the overcrowding on the trains.

In response, a spokesperson for Transport for Wales said: “There are lots of rail passengers travelling on the Wales and Borders network today, with numerous big events taking place, including the Wales v Belgium football match in Cardiff, Chester Races and the Ed Sheeran and Alicia Keys concerts in Manchester. So we know that some of our services have been very busy, particularly in the north where there are lots of people travelling to the different events and making their way to the game in Cardiff.

“We currently have all our available trains and carriages out on the network and have arranged additional rail replacement bus and coach services to supplement the trains, where needed. We always advise passengers to check before they travel and allow extra time for their journeys on busy event days, but we appreciate that some passengers have found the services very busy, and we apologise for any crowded conditions.

“Our teams are working hard to keep the network moving and look after all our customers during this busy time, and we’d like to thank our passengers for their patience and co-operation while we do our very best to get everyone to their chosen destination safely so that they can enjoy the events taking place.”

The transport company added that new trains and an increased number of carriages are soon to be put in service.

“New trains for our mainline routes are coming on stream this year, with testing and driver and conductor training underway, and with deployment starting on our routes in the north of the network. There will be 180 new carriages, enabling us to increase capacity on these routes significantly.”


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SundanceKid
SundanceKid
2 years ago

We need an improved north to south transport system urgently. Ridiculous that travel across our own country is restricted in this way in 2022.

Llinos
Llinos
2 years ago

Jesus wept! Was this match a surprise to TFW?! Sorry this is what you were stuck with folks. Veal calves have better transport links. No wonder Rishi Sunak takes a £10,000 private helicopter

Kathleen Walker
Kathleen Walker
2 years ago

as always The English get the trains crummy trains crummy service shouldNationalize transportation!

Jack
Jack
2 years ago

It’s not England’s fault that we don’t invest in our own rail network

Llinos
Llinos
2 years ago
Reply to  Jack

But it IS England’s fault for all the rail decisions made before Y Senedd took over. It IS England’s fault that we must travel into England by rail to join up the North and South of our own Nation. It IS England’s fault that we were denied funding to mitigate all the money poured into HS2 for the sole benefit of England. Or to be fairer, for England, substitute Westminster. But it can be confusing to know who is responsible, I agree Jack. Full independence, with full control over our own destiny would make this very clear. Whether or not… Read more »

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
2 years ago

Lee Waters says take the train…!

Bob McIntyre
Bob McIntyre
2 years ago

Why is this a surprise? We have a nationalised railway in Wales and look, it’s a hopeless disaster, but just typical of the narrow-minded, small-brained group of people who are in charge of the country who can’t even run something as small as a transport system, let alone health and education – all of which are a shambles. Isn’t it time to sweep away those dim-witted and parochial politicians who live in the past and start saying only the best will do for Wales? Wales has to re-think itself for the 21st century and put people who “can do”. Look… Read more »

Llinos
Llinos
2 years ago
Reply to  Bob McIntyre

Whilst not letting TfW off the hook, most of Cymru’s rail problems are down to xenophobic infrastructure made by the Victorians and Beeching, further exacerbated by cyclopean Tory privatisation.
TfW need to up their game sure. But Pan-Cymru nationalisation is the only viable solution which will put OUR people at the heart of the strategy

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