Extra services for mid Wales announced

[whole diary]

[John R]

Welsh Govt have announced four additional return services from Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury from May 15. Also (and more surprisingly) extra services on each end of the Heart of Wales line.

Very welcome news.

[anthony215]

All well and good but where is ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) going to get the extra rolling stock from?

The swanline service between Swansea and Cardiff cerainly deserves to be increased to hourly at some point.

I wonder if this is why though why there are rumours flying around of more use being made of ATW's loco hauled sets particalary at weekends

[grahame]

All well and good but where is ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) going to get the extra rolling stock from?

At least for this summer, they'll be running one less "old" diagram on the Cambrian Coast, with the section northward from Harlech closed because of problems at Pont Brewit.  Then they could increase Machynelleth - Shrewsbury frequency by replacing a 4 car train every 2 hours with a 2 car train every hour - not coupling the Aberystwyth and Barmouth / Harlech trains for the run inland but running them separate.  That (or partly that) might be a good first step rather than doubling capacity.  Rather like Falmouth going from hourly to half hourly, but dropping from a 150 to 2 x 153.

Doesn't sort out the Heart of Wales extra, but if they're commuter trains in to Cardiff / in to Manchester, might they simply extend back an early Swanline back to start at Llandovery, and an early Shrewsbury - Crewe or Shrewsbury - Chester to start at Knighton?   I recall something similar being done for an Arrochar to Glasgow service, with a unit that would otherwise have started its day in Glasgow.

What a pity that 66% of the working population works broadly Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 - operationally a 24 x 7 railway would be so much more efficient and carry so many more passengers, even if it was a maintenance nightmare!

[John R]

All well and good but where is ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) going to get the extra rolling stock from?

The swanline service between Swansea and Cardiff cerainly deserves to be increased to hourly at some point.

Well given that's not mentioned by the Welsh Government I think you can safely say it won't be part of any rolling stock consideration.

I notice that the announcement of one service improvement/line reopening etc is often immediately commented on with a "but what about x or y o z" (or all three). Maybe that's human nature, but sometimes it's good to dwell on the positives of an announcement, rather than turn a positive into a negative.

[IndustryInsider]

Very good news for the Aberystwyth line as this has been an aspiration for many long years now.

[anthony215]

I agree this is very good news and I am not trying to put it down however I do have some concerns.

Anyway I have heard tonight that ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)))  should be introducing a additional loco hauled diagram into Manchester to release some dmu's. Most likely I think this will be the north wales - Manchester route. Still I think a lot  of enthusisasts will be pleased if this supposed loco hauled operation actually somes about.

Still goes to show all that hard work put in by campaingers is actually paying off.

[grahame]

Welsh Govt have announced four additional return services from Aberystwyth to Shrewsbury from May 15. Also (and more surprisingly) extra services on each end of the Heart of Wales line.

Very welcome news.

That was a year ago.  Now from http://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/business/i/47747/?

29 April 2015
ARRIVA Trains Wales has announced important changes to its timetables for trains to and from Aberystwyth starting from Sunday, 17 May.
On the Cambrian line, four additional return services will operate between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury, Mondays to Saturdays, with hourly services for peak morning and afternoon times, leaving Aberystwyth at 6.30am, 8.30am, 12.30pm and 6.30pm and from Shrewsbury at 6.25am, 10.29am, 6.31pm and 8.30pm.
There will also be two new return Sunday services, leaving Aberystwyth at 10.30am and 2.33pm, and 4.29pm and 6.28pm from Shrewsbury.
There is also an improvement to evening services on the Cambrian Coast between Barmouth and Pwllheli (Monday to Saturdays).
The 6.59pm (Friday only) Machynlleth to Barmouth service has now been extended to run Mondays to Saturdays and will now carry on to Pwllheli calling at Llanaber, Harlech, Porthmadog, Criccieth, Penychain and Abererch only.
In order to implement the additional services, some services have been retimed with services leaving earlier than usual.
Lynne Milligan, customer services director said: ^We continue to make our timetable more convenient for our passengers, looking at how we can improve our service connections to the rest of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) network and how we can make the most effective use of our fleet. We are looking forward to introducing a more regular service on the Cambrian and Heart of Wales lines which will improve the accessibility of public transport in the area and boost tourism.^We would like to advise all our passengers, regular commuters and leisure travellers alike to check their travel plans for journeys from Sunday, 17 May, especially as some services have been retimed.^

Are those additions to the additions, or are the trains announced a year ago just starting?

On the Heart of Wales, I notice:

Shrewsbury at 05:45 to Llandrindod at 06:10, major stations only
Llandrindod at 16:18 to Shrewsbury at 08:07, all stations

Llanelli at 05:20 to Llandovery at 06:21, all stations
Llandovery at 06:42, all stations to Swansea at 08:08

Characterised as an early morning "commuter"ish train off both ends of the line, probably using stock that goes on to form already-running peak services.

[grahame]

An interesting study at the new service ends - Llandovery and Llandrindod - both quite small towns, and interesting to see the service is considered worthwhile.   Of course it's not really that simple as there will be intermediate traffice too (from Knighton into Shrewsbury and from Llandeilo and Pontardulais into Swansea) which will also form part of the case, as will the boost in passenger numbers probably provided to the early evening return home services.

This is interesting stuff to look at / reflect on / compare to the TransWilts when the only commuter train was 07:48 into Swindon and 18:44 returning, and the long day that created for the few hardy commuters.  Yet these days both those trains are much busier due to alternative options.   I hope the days in Swansea / Shrewsbury are short enough to build up regular commuter traffic off the Heart of Wales.   Neat if it works

Also looking to the ongoing economy of Llandovery

http://excelsior.servers.prgn.misp.co.uk/~transtyw/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WHERE-SHOULD-148-NEW-HOMES-BE-BUILT.pdf

[Hafren]

As it's just an extra morning working and some reshuffles I've assumed it is being slotted into existingh diagrams, but haven't had time to look at it properly, but some thoughts... The morning Cardiff to Pembroke Dock & Fishguard splitter is now not splitting; a separate service is leaving Swansea a bit later on a limited stop pattern to Fishguard, leaving Swansea just after the new early HoW^‡(resolve) arrival. The early run to Llandovery is starting at Carmarthen, in lieu of the current 04xx SWA^» (Swansea - next trains)-SHR^» (Shrewsbury - next trains), so there's an extra start at Carmarthen. Not sure where that's coming from, but it's worth noting the 1804 from Cardiff doesn't need to do anything after that (it just sits at Swansea for a bit and then attaches to something giong back to CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains)) so maybe it runs to CMN and spends the night there instead.

The 1821 SWA-SHR and similar timing the other way mean it's still quite a long working day whether in SWA or SHR. That's good for general travel as it's the last train and any earlier would make it less useful, but for daily commuting it makes a long day. Perhaps the 18.21 could turn round at LLE (to connect with 17.30ish SWA-CMN)... if a later evening opportunity could be made from the natural slack (in stock terms, if not fuel or staffing) as things wind down in the evening.

Re the starting points, it's worth noting that the current through services start the day at similar times to  the new positioning moves so starting at Llandovery and Llandrindod can be achieved without staffing the trains or signal box any earlier. So the operational change looks marginal versus the added social/commuter benefits - which is probably what makes it worthwhile.

[Rhydgaled]

From the information that's been posted on RailUK, and a look at the timetable, the impression I have is they've just about managed to plan the service without extra stock by doing the following:

• Maintainance time on one class 158 unit has been reduced to allow it to work a morning turn on the Cambrian Coast before going into the depot at Machynlleth
• One Aberystwyth-Birmingham service each way is reduced from 4-car to 2-car between Machynlleth and Shrewsbury (in the case of the eastbound working the other two coaches run the new service an hour earlier, then wait at Shrewsbury an hour to make the existing service back up to 4-car for the trip into Birmingham)
• Some of the new HOWL services have been acheived by retiming to interwork with Crewe-Chester shuttles, with a side-effect of a worse (earlier) arrival time in Shrewsbury for commuters from Craven Arms etc.
• As Hafren has said, the morning Cardiff-Fishguard will be cut back to Swansea - Fishguard (and miss out Carmarthen by the looks of it), presumably so the unit can work the new southern HOWL morning service instead of running between Cardiff-Swansea coupled to the Pembroke Dock unit

I'm very impressed that they've been able to do it without losing more Cambrian coast portions than appears to be the plan, but really I think the 'butter' is being scraped too thin and somebody ought to come up with a larger rolling stock fleet if they are going to provide (welcome) extra services.