Transport for Wales defends ‘grim’ annual report after Tory attack
Emily Price
Transport for Wales has defended its latest annual report after the Welsh Conservatives condemned it as “grim reading”.
The Welsh Government owned not for profit rail operator published its 2023 / 2024 report on Wednesday (July 31).
It revealed details of its latest achievements and successes as well as its expenditure figures including staffing costs and new trains.
The Welsh Tories say the report shows a £300m shortfall footed by the taxpayer via a subsidy paid by the Welsh Government in order to keep trains operating.
TfW has argued that the higher costs are a result of new trains and other improvements.
The rail operator says 46 brand new trains and timetable changes across the Wales and Borders network have helped reduce cancellations over the last year.
An increase in revenue figures were also recorded following an increase to key bus services and changes to ticketing.
This year saw the launch of Pay-As-You-Go tickets, initially as a pilot, on rail journeys between Cardiff Central, Newport and Pontyclun, which has now been expanded to include Ebbw Vale.
The report also revealed a 30% growth in ticket sales through the TfW app.
In February 2024 TfW launched the new Ebbw Vale to Newport service, doubling the number of trains per hour.
Passengers
The report also showed a 25% increase in passengers using TrawsCymru bus services.
The flagship T1 service between Carmarthen and Aberystwyth has seen an increase of 65 per cent in passenger numbers, whilst the Sherpa bus service operating in Eryri has seen an increase of 64 per cent compared with 2019.
The T8 service in Ruthin has also seen its passenger numbers increase by more than 9,500 a month.
TfW says it also delivered £46m in active travel funding supporting 250 Local Authority active travel schemes across Wales.
But Welsh Conservative Shadow Transport Minister Natasha Asghar says the report shows “loss upon loss”.
She said: “Labour-run Transport for Wales’ Annual Report makes for grim reading, given the huge sums pumped into the rail service and the massive losses reported.
“Revenue has not recovered to pre-Covid levels. In fact, staffing costs exceeded passenger revenue and redundancy pay outs, mostly for ill-health, have more than doubled in a year.
“Welsh taxpayers’ want value for money and they aren’t getting that from Labour-run TfW. We need improvements and fast.”
TfW said the majority of train operators receive government subsidy in order to run their services.
A spokesperson said: “In terms of rail passenger revenue, we returned to our pre-covid levels in 23/24 financial year, and expect to exceed those levels for the full year 24/25.
“The majority of train operating companies receive subsidy in order to operate their services, as was the case in Wales for the whole period of privatisation.
“The higher costs represented in our annual report reflect the significant investment in new trains, increased staffing and all the other improvements which we are delivering as part of our transformation. Customers are now seeing the benefits of these improvements.
“When we compare TfW’s recovery post-covid to the rest of the UK rail industry, TfW’s revenue recovery is 9 percentage points above UK industry average. TfW’s passenger number recovery is 7 percentage points above UK industry average.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson added: “The annual report highlights a number of successes including increased revenue, more new trains and increased use of services.”
Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for Transport, Peredur Griffiths said the report showed a “lack of ambition” from Welsh Labour with frequent train delays and cancellations and cuts to bus services despite 75% of all public transport journeys being made by bus in Wales,
He said: “Ensuring access to public transport for all is vital if we are to meet environmental targets, but also to ensure we connect our communities and provide people with access to essential services.
“People expect value for money. The Welsh Labour Government must work with TfW and focus on delivering efficient services to increase passenger satisfaction and numbers.
“While some aspects of this report are welcomed, it’s clear that there is a long way to go to ensuring everyone in Wales can access an affordable and efficient transport network fit for the future.”
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Why would you purchase hundreds of million pounds worth of rolling stack and let them sit in the Barry sidings for the last 2 years?
Not exactly well planned is it TfW
They have to be tested, something like 2,000 hours of ‘fault free’ running before allowed into service. And then you have the train the crew to use them. It takes time
“2,000 hours of ‘fault free’ running before allowed into service”
Have you just made that up, Aircraft don’t even get that amount time for reliability testing!
2,000 hours or 3 months in constant ‘fault free’ use for a train??
In which case every second train on the network should be empty and on test 🙂
If a fault develops within the 2,000 hours does the clock go back to zero and the 2,000 hour process start all over again??
I think the real reason these trains in Barry that are not being used, is the OLE project ran way behind schedule. Companies don’t spent hundreds of millions on assets that won’t be used for several years, unless the CFO is rather stupid or naive or perhaps both.
In the article below Greater Anglian trains say it can take months to test new trains, hence why they have been delivered, but are not in use.
https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/about-us/news-desk/blog-post/your-new-trains-have-arrived-%E2%80%93-why-cant-i-travel-them-yet#:~:text=Type%20testing%20can%20take%20a,clocks%20without%20developing%20any%20defect.
In the below article Airbus tested the A350-900 for 14 months before production, then the aircraft were tested for 2,600 hours to receive a air worthiness cert.
https://www.airbus.com/en/products-services/commercial-aircraft/the-life-cycle-of-an-aircraft/test-and-certification
Awwww!
The rolling stock also has to be network tested. Make sure all those old sagging platforms, coping stones and tactile strips conform to the vertical guage (step up or step down distance, mind the gap, and disabled ramp deployments). At every station. This has involved some remedial work on platform structure and changing the ‘stop markers’ at stations throughout the network, depends on the number of carriages. Has to be done in conjunction with existing rolling stock also that such changes do not adversely affect other operators, for example, GWR.
It is not often I find myself in agreement with a Tory but in this case, I think “grim reading” is almost an understatement. The senior management at TfW have singularly failed to get a grip on the job they are supposed to do and seem unaccountable to anyone especially the Welsh Government that employs them. The basic problem is an over-inflated and unrealistic sense of what can be achieved. Instead of getting the basics right: trains and buses running and running on time, they seem to live in a fantasy world where wasting money on daft ideas is the… Read more »
Um, in England most of the privatised franchises have handed their contracts back. And you can hardly blame TfW for the ‘ancient trains’ they inherited from Arriva.
Arriva were also restricted in their contract, which was drawn up and issued by the Dept of Transport in London, and stated they were not allowed to upgrade rolling stock, and were also not allowed to expand the fleet of stock they started with.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-45838051&ved=2ahUKEwjw-7Lp1NSHAxWvT0EAHdxQKWMQFnoECBgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0bVdWUcRitPsAXUVVEEaM6
There’s an awful lot of misinformation about the South Wales Metro. Cardiff itself will likely not see any improvements in frequency or capacity of rail routes. Areas around Cardiff will most certainly benefit massively, but not necessarily Cardiff itself. And it’s not like public transport here is a utopian haven in the first place. If you can afford to live in or close to the city centre, generally you’re fine. The situation is not quite so rosy when you move further out however. Where I live there is no nearby train station – I can choose between Cardiff Central or… Read more »
Totally agree with you regarding buses. I struggle a little with mobility and rely heavily on buses, even though I live quite close to the city centre, and it amazes me that on services where the buses are often dangerously packed to the gills (no one should be standing, particularly with the lousy driving skills of many Cardiff Bus drivers) that those in control haven’t either invested in bigger buses, (like bendy buses, so what if they annoy car drivers) or greater frequency. To be successful, public transport needs to be punctual, pleasant, comfortable and efficient and buses be clean.… Read more »
If you live out in the St Mellons area then by the sounds of things nothing has changed since 1990.
Well, if you are such a fan of things in England you could always move,(maybe even move back) there. We won’t miss you! Sure, things aren’t perfect, or anywhere near, (and I grant you, Cardiff new bus station is a joke, a project that will need to be revisited and massively improved, quite soon) but what Llywodraeth Cymru is doing is a huge project that is, initially at least, going to be quite disruptive. Let’s not forget that even simple things, such as co-ordinating bus and train timetables was made illegal by Thatcher and that was only rescinded quite recently.… Read more »
More evidence that Labour UK, with agreement of SoS will use to coopt TfW into GB Rail.
She seems to misunderstand the situation. She’s criticising TfW because ‘Revenue hasn’t returned to pre-Covid levels’, but that’s a common issue globally. Trains operate at a loss worldwide; they’re a public service, not a commercial enterprise. You’d think after 3 years as a transport spokesperson she’s have understood the basics by now
I’ll give you a clue: Natasha Ashgar is a TORY. If it’s not neoliberal nonsense they don’t have a clue, and even when it is neoliberal nonsense, they still don’t have a clue, because it is nonsense, the only utility of which is to shovel vast amounts of public money into the private pockets of the ultra-rich.
You are so right!
And many people are unaware that the tories in westminster paid far more in subsidies to the private train operating companies than they ever did when nationalised; enabling vast dividends to be paid to shareholders, irrespective of ticket sales or passenger numbers!
The trains should never have been privatised!
They so obviously didn’t look at the chaos that was the norm for the very earliest railway companies. If they had, they would have seen what a bad idea it was.
When the Torys privatise something, they only think of how they can profit, as owners or shareholders, any thought of a good or bad idea does not enter the equasion.
Welsh Government supported by Plaid have wasted billions…and Wales need change!!!
‘But Welsh Conservative Shadow Transport Minister Natasha Asghar says the report shows “loss upon loss”.’
I view anything which Ms Asghar says on any topic whatever through one particular lens, which is that her late father was first elected to the then Assembly as a Plaid Cymru member.
And that when Plaid Cymru took the decision to prevent its assembly members from employing close relatives on their staff, he swiftly left Plaid and joined the Conservatives, who take a less proscriptive view on such matters.
I drew my own conclusions back then, in 2009.
I wish TfW would concentrate less on producing a Welsh brand and more on actually running trains, where I live each week up 70 trains are cancelled since the introduction on the new timetable on June 2nd.
The excuses are “More trains than usual need repair” or “More drivers than usual are off sick”
You can’t use both these excuses on the very same day as they are mutually exclusive, do TfW take us for fools?