What action is the Cabinet Secretary taking to improve the availability of rolling stock for Transport For Wales in mid Wales?
I met with the Chief Executive Officer of Transport for Wales (TfW) to discuss this issue. He assured me that TfW and Network Rail have developed and operationalised a recovery plan to manage the situation. I will continue to press him on this.
TfW’s maintenance teams are working around the clock to repair the damaged trains. They have also hired facilities in neighbouring areas where there is spare capacity to repair damaged wheels.
Services that were cancelled last week are being reinstated. TFW plan to reintroduce full timetable services on impacted routes based on the areas of greatest need. They are expecting to restore a full service between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury from Wednesday 5th December.
From December 2022 TfW plan to increase the frequency of weekday services stopping at stations along the Heart of Wales line from four to five trains per day. TfW also plan to introduce refurbished Class 170 trains on this line from 2022. This will result in an increase in seating capacity from 64 (on a one-car Class 153 train) and 120 (on a two-car Class 150 train) to 190 on the new trains. These trains will also be faster, resulting in a reduction in journey times.