I would hope that all diagrams involved in the Manchester-West Wales-Cardiff-West Wales-Manchester workings would be prioritised for 197s.  If a Sprinter does happen to end up on a working in an emergency I would guess it would have to work as a 2 car Sprinter throughout the diagram with no split (unless another Sprinter could be found).

It would have been better if the 3 car had continued to West Wales and the 2 car sat in Swansea for an hour however i guess there isnt enough capacity with the 3 cars to do that.   About 4 of the 'Cambrian' 197s have now entered service and hopefully the remaining 3 cars (currently 2 outstanding) will be in service soon but even with with the extra units they still seem to struggle.

Im unsure which working on the Maesteg and Ebbw Vale lines are booked Sprinters or booked 197s. I know the Newport-Ebbw Vales are Sprinters and often seem to be a single 153 (good use of stock when they are short as I think officially they are booked 2 cars) but there are quite a few 150s and pairs of 153s that turn up on Maesteg and Ebbw Vale which makes me wonder if some are booked as such.

Personally I think post Dec TT change if they are short of 197s it would be better for Ebbw Vale-Maesteg and Swanline-Pembroke Dock to be subbed for Sprinters before anything else.  With the new trains on the Valleys there should be more spare 150s around to hopefully cover and keep the 197s where they need to be. 

Also I understand the 5th MK4 diagram is supposed to start with the new timetable (0530 Swansea to Manchester etc) so that should free up another 197.  Whether it actually happens is another thing. 

 

I hope the all-day couple/uncouple arrangement works out in practice. A Sprinter covering something would snarl it up!

I wonder if there's any scope to swap the arrangement so the 3 car portion goes past Swansea and then ends up on Cardiffs in between. With most other routes in theory going up to an appropriate new baseline train length (CDF-HHD 3 car, CDF-MAN 5 car etc) the off-hour Cardiff-West journeys are a bit of an anomoly being stuck with 2 cars. Swapping the arrangement would mean more 3 car (with Standard Plus) diagrams in total, as some will be locked into West Wales cycles at any one time. I can see why the extras aren't attaching/detaching at Swansea - it would otherwise involve having two sets couple/uncouple movements going on at the same time each hour, and either very tight movements or having overlapping layovers, none of which is good for resilience. Maybe once things have settled down the 'extras' could have a separate routine of attaching/detaching a 2 car set at CMN to make 4 cars.

Several 153 subs today, it seems, and a 150 on at least one Ebbw Vale diagram, which was doing the stepping-up thing that suggests availability is tight. So I am a bit concerned about how there will suddenly be an increase in availability! Especially with 150s starting to be withdrawn now AIUI. 756s are starting to appear; only 1 diagram on today, as far as I could see, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were a dramatic increase in the next few weeks. That would help to cascade some 150s to the Valleys routes currently operated with 153s, which would then help to cover the SWML locals etc until 197 availability improves. Most of the Pembrokes seem to be 197s atm, for example, so they could be released if covered by 153s per previous plans.

 

And cut big swathes through the local service for the Marcher stations, but they're in England so they don't count.

I try not to be too reactionary about TfW's attitude to the stops between Hereford and Shrewsbury, but they really could make more of an attempt to at least pretend to care. Two morning stops are being dropped from Church Stretton in this attempt to "deliver a standard pattern", which means no departures between 0937 and 1104. There are several more of these 1.5-hour gaps through the day, and southbound to Hereford too.

 
Swanline still not being hourly all day is disappointing however its still a much improved service in the morning and evening peaks.  Particularly going in Cardiff direction in the morning.

I have noticed the Carmarthen-Cardiff services that have been cut during the week appear to be running on a Saturday. This is very sensible knowing how busy services are heading towards Cardiff on a Saturday.

With Swansea-Manchester meant to be 5 carriages on most services from the timetable change in a few weeks are TFW confident that they are finally able to deliver this? According to the FAQ's on the website it sounds like they are.

Also after looking at RTT it seems the arrival from Manchester loses 3 carriages at Swansea with the 2 car going to West Wales and the 3 car just sits in Swansea for an hour until the next 2 car comes from West Wales.  The 0945 arrival at Swansea (from Crewe in this instance) then sits there until the next departure to Manchester at 1054.    It appears that the few trains that still go from West Wales to Cardiff the hours they dont go to Manchester will 2 cars throughout which could see 2 cars on some busy Cardiff-Milford services.

 
Still pathetic that we don't have a full clockface swanline service like was promised in December 2023

 
Not that this involves the heaviest passenger flow: at Swansea, the early service from Paddington and GWML stations to Bristol is timed to run a minute or so later into Swansea - and the Swansea to Shrewsbury departure around 9:10 has been retimed to leave ten minutes earlier. This means that the London train's timed to arrive a minute after the Shrewsbury train leaves. (There are connections into the HoW service from, say Cardiff - and also Newport courtesy of a XC service from Birmingham.)

Thinking of the train from Paddington, on its arrival at Swansea the next train from Swansea to Shrewsbury is 4 hours later - for many stations on the HoW line, earliest arrival if travelling from any distance from many origin points is off at Newport and travel via Craven Arms which itself carries a time penalty.

Mark

 

It's a Press release from Transport for Wales so you would expect it to go big on the improvements


IMHO - some good changes there:
* Clockfaces and more on the Swanline which has needed gaps filled
* Later last trains

some making a mountain out of a molehill:
* How many people remain on the train from Maesteg when it arrives in Cardiff, and want to go onwards towards Ebbw Vale?
* Why is an arrival at Platform 0 in Cardiff an improvement

and some places where brave words are put on reductions
* Instigation of the changes brought about by the Strategic Timetable Review

Noting changes at Fishguard Harbour.  How far will arrivals from Dublin via  Rosslare be able to get?