After Yesterdays Blog I was bemused to see a a Welsh Government minister that Transport for Wales has been backed as doing a "fantastic job"
As I pointed out Yesterday
The BBC report that
Bus replacement services are in place after the newly established firm said a third of its 127 trains were damaged.Julie James praised the firm for the "swiftness of their response" and blamed "years of underinvestment" on the rail network in Wales.
But she was accused of being "detached from reality" by the Conservatives.
Members of the public have also vented their frustration on social media.
Transport for Wales has warned of up to three weeks of disruption on its network, beginning last Monday, with services not running or being replaced by buses.
It said damage to wheels had been caused by the seasonal conditions and said engineers were working round the clock.
The franchise, operated by KeolisAmey, was awarded by the Welsh Government earlier this year. The previous service, Arriva Trains Wales, was overseen by the UK government.In the Senedd UKIP group leader Gareth Bennett said:
"Most rail users simply don't understand why 25 per cent of the fleet had to be withdrawn all at the same time this autumn"."Why could the withdrawal not be staggered to, say, five per cent of the time over five weeks, rather than 25 per cent all at once in a week,"
Ms James, government business minister, replied:
"Actually, Transport for Wales have done an absolutely fantastic job, and 10 per cent of the fleet is now back in action again."
"So, I think, actually, they're to be praised for the swiftness of their response."
She said an operational recovery plan was in place.
It comes to something when Gareth Bennett has a better grip on reality than the Welsh Labour Government."Of course, we are very sorry indeed... to find ourselves in the position where Transport for Wales has inherited a fleet of trains - very substandard and substantially not what we'd expect - frankly from years and years and years of underinvestment by the private sector," Ms James added."We've only had the franchise for just under a month, we cannot correct the underinvestment of 15 years in four weeks."
In Wrexham, the council's lead member for transport, councillor David Bithell, has written to the Welsh Government's Transport Secretary Ken Skates to complain about cancellations.Tory AM Andrew RT Davies accused Ms James of being "detached from reality"."The situation is unacceptable and has caused unnecessary inconvenience and disruption to people in Wrexham.In response to the concerns, a spokesman for TfW has apologised for the inconvenience caused.
"I have asked him to investigate how such decisions are made and subsequently communicated to passengers."
However, they added that it may take several weeks before a normal service resumes.
"Remarkable response," he added.
Transport for Wales is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government.[
It was established to provide support and expertise to the Welsh Government in connection to transport projects in Wales. In 2017, it procured the new Operator and Development Partner for the Wales & Borders railway franchise] under powers delegated to the Welsh government under the Government of Wales Act 2006.
The company introduced the Transport for Wales brand to replace the now defunct Arriva Trains Wales brand on the Wales & Borders franchise from 14 October 2018.
However !
The franchise is operated by Transport for Wales Rail.
So the it seems that Julie Jame was referring to the company and nor the actual franchise as doing a "fantastic job"
But quite frankly how are passengers expected to understand the difference and know who exactly to blame and perhaps more importantly who is exactly going to fix it.
One of the Two should adopt a different name and their responsibilities made clear , but better still lets have a nationalised Rail service incorporating both bodies yes even run by the Welsh Labour Government .
It may seem odd to call for the devolution of Transport powers to Wales , but only a clear Welsh Transport Policy designed to meet our needs and a change of Welsh Government can achieve this.
1 comment:
I think Gareth Bennet's grip on the reality here is very weak... The trains haven't been withdrawn due to planned maintenance that could have been staggered, in most cases they have been damaged due to slipping on rails which are greasy due to leaf mulch. If they were used the flat spots on the wheels would cause damage to the track, probably resulting in a large number of broken rails. In the best case that would mean even more delays are routes were closed for emergency repairs, or in a worse case scenario it could mean trains being derailed with the potential for injury or worse.
I'm not making excuses for TfW Rail here but they have been running the service with a fleet of trains which they inherited that are not fit for purpose, and which isn't enough to cope with the demand even in the best of circumstances. When a lot of them develop the same safety related fault at the same time it's simply a matter of planning for the problems you know you will have. New trains have been ordered, but expecting all of the problems of 30 years plus of little or no investment in a few weeks isn't realistic. It would have been like this whoever was in charge. I'd struggle to say TfWRail are doing a 'fantastic' job, but as someone with a fair amount of experience in the field I'd say we need to be careful of people like Gareth Bennett with no knowledge offering simple 'solutions' to complex and longstanding problems.
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