PET(4)-05-11 Paper 11a

P-04-321 Arriva Trains Wales services between South West and South East Wales

Petition wording

We call upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure that Arriva Trains Wales provide commuter train services between South West and South East Wales that are timely, convenient, fit-for-purpose and have a suitable number of seats/carriages for passengers to travel in comfort.

Link to petition: http://senedd.assemblywales.org/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=1014&optionId=0

Petition raised by: Bjorn Rödde

Number of signatures: 162

Additional information:

The Arriva Trains Wales service to Manchester Piccadilly currently leaves Carmarthen at 05:50am and arrives at Cardiff Central at 07:40am. After 21^st May, Arriva Trains Wales have decided that this service will start at Carmarthen only 3 minutes later, at 05:53am, but will not arrive in Cardiff Central until 08:01am. This means that the many passengers that commute to Cardiff on this service to start work at 08:00am will no longer get to work on time. The delay is caused by an increased wait at Swansea station, meaning that commuters who stop at each station East of Swansea will be significantly delayed. A solution that Arriva Trains Wales is likely to suggest is to change at Swansea to the First Great Western service destined for London Paddington. However, this train will arrive in Cardiff Central at 07:52am, which still leaves inadequate time for most customers to arrive at work by 08:00am. In addition, the majority are likely to be opposed to changing trains due to nervousness and inconvenience. It is reasonable to expect a direct service when commuting to work. As holders of the Wales rail franchise, Arriva Trains Wales ought to be committed to providing direct services for those travelling within Wales.

The majority of workers who use the above service return home on the train that leaves Cardiff Central at 16:04pm (the Manchester Piccadilly – Milford Haven Service). This will change to 15:54pm after 21^st May and the next train to West Wales won’t leave until 17:04pm.

Most passengers will find that this 30minute reduction in their working day will not be justified to their employers and it would be very impractical to travel either significantly earlier in the morning or significantly later in the evening to compensate.

The Arriva Trains Wales summer timetable for 2011 is likely therefore, to render this commuter service an unusable mode of public transport, resulting in many current customers choosing to travel by car instead.

As part of these timetable changes, there are also a number of stations in West Wales where certain services will no longer stop, making public transport even less accessible than it currently is in West Wales. Passengers using these stations feel particularly betrayed since Arrive Trains Wales have community groups that adopt their local stations to aid their operation (particularly in West Wales). These community groups consist of volunteers who give their time for zero cost, but in return, will no longer benefit from trains stopping frequently at their stations.

There are many days, when travelling from Cardiff Central towards West Wales, when only two passenger carriages are in service; this results in inadequate space for passengers and luggage, with train station staff frequently squashing people onto trains so that all passengers can board. This is particularly evident on Friday afternoon and the level of discomfort is widely regarded by passengers as unacceptable.