Transport for Wales reports performance improvements in first quarter of 2024
Transport for Wales (TfW) has released new figures showing an improvement in rail performance since January this year.
Since January over 80% of TfW trains have arrived on time or within three minutes of their scheduled arrival, with the most recent statistics for March indicating that this has now risen to 85% of rail services.
Cancellations across the network this year have also stayed below the annual average 5% target.
TfW says these improvements across the Wales and Borders network are a result of the £800 million investment it is making into brand-new trains.
As more of these new trains are added to the network, rail performance continues to improve “through building more resilience and reliability” it says.
Encouraging
Adam Terry, Head of Rail Performance at TfW said: “Our rail performance figures for 2024 are encouraging and have shown an improvement of how our trains are operating on our network and we’re hitting our targets.
“Nearly fifty percent of our train fleet has been replaced with newer trains as part of our transformation programme and as we continue to add more brand-new trains to our network we expect to see continued improvements.”
In April, First Minister Vaughan Gething described TfW as the “best performing operator” in Wales “by some distance”.
Distressed
He told the Senedd: “When we took control of the Valleys lines, we actually found a very distressed asset that required a large amount of capital expenditure. That has had real consequences for the whole Government.
“It is good news, though, that Transport for Wales is now the best performing operator in Wales when it comes to punctuality, when it comes to quality of the rolling stock. Compared to all other operators in Wales, Transport for Wales is the best performer by some distance.”
Lasts year, TfW was ranked as the worst rail operator for overall customer satisfaction in Britain, according to a passenger survey.
The 2023 Rail User Survey conducted by Transport Focus, the independent watchdog for transport users, showed overall satisfaction with TfW services had fallen to 72 per cent, the lowest level recorded across the 15 rail operators included in the survey.
The survey asks passengers in Wales, England and Scotland about their experience of rail travel and their level of satisfaction with their most recent journey.
According to the responses, the satisfaction level recorded by TfW passengers declined by 10 points from 2022.
Punctuality, reliability, and service frequency were also among the key areas where passengers were unhappy as TfW ranked in 15th place across all three categories.
TfW says the problems last year were compounded by issues with the fleet of trains and new rolling stock which has been due to go into service being delayed.
Engineering work on the Valleys Lines out of Cardiff, in preparation for the South Wales Metro also have played a part in disrupting services.
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Fair enough if things are improving, but let’s be real: a cancellation target of 5% is miserable however you cut it. Suppose you told your boss in writing that you’re aiming to miss no more than 5% of work days, he’d consider no longer employing you at all.
A “distressed asset” indeed – that’s almost as bad as the wrong sort of snow! But at least it does describe those who try to run the railway system in Wales… Things have got much worse under TfW’s control and show little sign of improvement except in the Cardiff area where their efforts are being focussed. The rest of Wales can go to the dogs – particularly the rural bits which are about to suffer deep cuts to services in order to prop up the Metro which is way over budget and way behind. Since the beginning of May single… Read more »
Eh? When were the railways nationalised in Cymru? It’s taken over ownership of the valleys lines, which serve the most populated parts of the country and are heavily used, and had been neglected by Network Rail and its predecessors for literally decades (along with all the rails in Wales). TfW has however taken over train operations and considering it inherited a museum of geriatric vehicles I’m surprised it hasn’t been worse. You mention trains getting stuck on HOWL because of locomotives that can’t handle the inclines, and I fully believe you because it happened to me when I was going… Read more »
And off into the sunset rode the man responsible…for the last five years and the one party for the last twenty five years…