TfW announces future plan for changing rail demands
Transport for Wales (TfW) has completed its future rail timetable review to better meet post-covid changes in rail travel demands. The changes also support TfW’s ambition to become ”a truly multimodal operator”.
Based on a comprehensive review of current rail demand and predicted future growth, the new long-term strategy is said to be better aligned with the new travel habits and requirements of customers.
As a result of the review some rail routes will see more services and longer trains with more seats, particularly during seasonal peaks. Other routes will see slightly different calling patterns better targeted to current needs.
However, says TfW, it has had to make “some tough decisions” to ensure it provides capacity where most needed, grows revenue and ultimately reduces public subsidy.
Some of the key changes include:
Running 87 more services on mainline routes than when TfW took over in 2018 and more carriages added to some busiest services to help meet growing demand.
Removing a small number of services that have very low passenger demand.
Providing extra capacity on popular summer routes.
Deferring some earlier-made commitments for more services on certain routes.
TfW says it remains committed to and is continuing to deliver its £800 million investment into new trains for the whole of its network.
Colin Lea, Planning and Performance Director said, “We’ve completed our future timetable review. The proposed new timetables will provide us with more resilience in the winter period and meet changed travel demands post Covid.
“Nearly every service that TfW operates requires public subsidy, and as a responsible operator it’s imperative for TfW to balance the needs for a regular, robust and reliable service with available budgets to deliver value for taxpayers and more sustainable transport."
TfW says the new timetables will be introduced over the next few years.