Transport for Wales

**Transport for Wales Rail Services** (TfW Rail Services) is a Welsh train operating company owned by Abellio that operates the Wales and Borders franchise.

The government body Transport for Wales (commercially separate from the train operating company) awarded the contract for the Wales and Borders franchise to Keolis Amey in 2018 which commenced rail operations on 14 October 2018. Keolis Amey uses the brand names **Transport for Wales** and **TfW Rail** (Welsh: ***Trafnidiaeth Cymru*** and ***TrC Trenau***), which are owned by the Welsh Government, for day-to-day operations.

## History

In October 2016 four bids were shortlisted for the next Wales & Borders franchise: Abellio, the incumbent operator Arriva, a Keolis/Amey joint venture, and MTR Corporation.

In October 2017, Arriva withdrew from the bidding process, followed in February 2018 by Abellio, after the collapse of its partner Carillion. In May 2018, the franchise was awarded to Keolis Amey Wales Cymru. It commenced on October 14th, 2018 and runs for 15 years.

Unlike the previous franchise, which was awarded by the Department for Transport, the new franchise was awarded by Transport for Wales, on behalf of the Welsh Government.

As of January 2020 Keolis Amey has been fined £2.3 million by the Welsh government for poor performance of rail services. The company is also expected to be criticised by the Welsh Language Commissioner later in 2020 for reportedly breaking legislation on Welsh language provision six times since taking over the franchise in 2018. TfW Rail told the BBC that it did not believe any rules had been broken. Complaints included that Welsh was given lesser treatment on self-service machines, websites, and on the mobile app, that correspondence was not issued fully in Welsh, that train tickets were printed only in English, and that station and train announcements were not always made bilingually.

## Planned improvements

**orth Wales and North West England**

* A new hourly Liverpool Lime Street to Chester service was introduced in May 2019, with limited services extended to Wrexham General.
* Class 230 *D-Trains* are scheduled for introduction on services on the Borderlands, Conwy Valley and Crewe-Chester lines during 2019. The operator had indicated an introduction date of Summer 2019, but this has been pushed back awaiting delivery of the stock from manufacturer Vivarail.
* Twelve refurbished Mark 4 carriages for the Holyhead to Cardiff Central *Premier Service* by the end of 2019, to replace the Mark 3 carriages. The first Mark 4 sets were released by LNER in July 2019 following the introduction of Azuma services and were released to Transport for Wales by 2020.
* Increase Wrexham Central to Bidston services to 2tph by December 2021, as part of the North Wales Metro.
* Introduction of a new hourly Liverpool to Llandudno and Shrewsbury service, and a new two-hourly Liverpool to Cardiff Central service from December 2022.
* Introduction of a direct Manchester Airport to Bangor service from December 2022.
* Introduce the new fleet of Civity diesel multiple units (DMUs) to the North Wales Coast line and other North Wales routes during 2022.
* Invest in Shotton and Wrexham General stations from April 2024, and in Chester station by 2028.
* Invest to co-fund new station buildings at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
* Introduce new Community Rail Partnerships on the North Wales Coast Line and the Crewe to Hereford line.

**South West and Mid Wales and the Borders**

* Refurbished Class 170 *Turbostar* two-car DMUs on services to West Wales, Ebbw Vale and Maesteg from 2019, and the Heart of Wales line from 2022, to replace Class 153 *Super Sprinters*.
* Open a new station at Bow Street in March 2020.
* An additional service every day on the Heart of Wales line from December 2022.
* A consistent 1 tph on the Cambrian line from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth from December 2022.
* New Civity DMUs on the Cambrian line during 2022, to replace the Class 158 *Express Sprinters*.
* Introduce new two and three-car new diesel multiple units for the Milford Haven to Manchester Piccadilly service by 2023, to replace the Class 175 *Coradias*.
* A first-class service between Swansea and Manchester from December 2024.
* Additional summer Sunday services from May 2023 between Tywyn and Pwllheli – including a new 1 tph express service between major centres by 2025.
* Invest in Carmarthen and Machynlleth stations in 2021, and Llanelli station in 2025.
* Introduce a new Community Rail Partnership for the West Wales line.

**South East Wales**

* Ticket machines were introduced at all South Wales Metro stations in 2019.
* Class 319
* *Flex* bi-mode multiple units (BMMUs) were delivered to Cardiff Canton Depot in Summer 2019, and are scheduled to run on the Valley Lines by the end of 2019.
* Replace all Class 142 and 143 *Pacers* by December 2019.
* 4tph between Cardiff Central and Bridgend (direct, Monday to Saturday) from December 2019.
* Introduce pay-as-you-go for users of smart cards by April 2020.
* Increasing capacity of trains on early morning services to Cardiff Central from 2-car services to 4-car services.
* A new 1 train per hour (tph) Ebbw Vale Town to Newport service from May 2021.
* 4tph between Treherbert, Merthyr Tydfil, Aberdare and Cardiff from December 2022, operated by *Citylink* tram-trains.
* 6tph between Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Bay from December 2022.
* Hourly Cheltenham Spa to Cardiff Central services from December 2022.
* Introduce new FLIRT diesel-electric multiple units (DEMUs) on the Ebbw Vale and Maesteg lines during 2022.
* Introduce new FLIRT tri-mode multiple units (TMMUs) between Penarth, Barry and Bridgend to Rhymney and Coryton during 2023.
* 2tph between Cardiff and Bridgend via the Vale of Glamorgan Line from December 2023.
* 4tph throughout on the Rhymney line from December 2023.
* Introduce *Citylink* tram-trains to the City Line during 2023.
* Eliminate diesel use on the Central Metro lines (north of Cardiff Queen Street) by 2024.
* Open new stations at Cardiff Parkway in February 2020, Crwys Road, Loudoun Square and Cardiff Bay by December 2023, Treforest Estate by December 2025, and Gabalfa by 2028.
* Invest in Merthyr Tydfil from April 2020, Abergavenny from April 2023, and Cardiff Central and Chepstow from April 2025.
* Develop a fleet maintenance depot at Taffs Well and a dedicated Infrastructure Management depot in the Valleys.
* Build a Major Events Stabling Line (MESL) and a new station in Llanwern.

## Rolling stock

TfW Rail inherited a fleet of Class 142, 143, 150, 153, 158 and 175 diesel multiple units and Mark 3 carriages from Arriva Trains Wales, which had been refurbished starting from 2011 and had been fitted with WiFi in 2017. It has since acquired some Class 170 units (from September 2019 to February 2020) and more Class 153 units (in April 2019 and December 2019 to January 2020) from some English operators to work alongside and with the ex-ATW fleet, to add capacity and support new services.

#### Class 153 *Super Sprinters*

In April 2019 TfW Rail added 5 153s acquired from Great Western Railway to the 8 it previously had. Four of these entered service the following month, and the fifth returned from works on 5 October 2019 as the first 153 on the whole GB rail network with PRM (Persons with Reduced Mobility) modifications, and entered service on 21 October 2019.

In October 2019, Porterbrook Leasing Company announced that they will lease a further 9 Class 153 units to TfW for use on a short term basis. These comprise 5 153s from Greater Anglia which were delivered in December 2019 and started to enter service in January 2020, and 4 153s from East Midlands Railway which were delivered in January 2020 and started to enter service in February 2020.

#### Class 170 *Turbostars*

In September 2019 Transport for Wales took delivery of the first 3 of 12 total Class 170 *Turbostar* DMUs from Greater Anglia, with 3 more of the units following in November 2019, a further 4 in December 2019 and the last two in January and February 2020 respectively. Driver training had taken place from September 2019, and in April 2020, the last unit to enter service (3-car 170206) finally did so.

On 12 December 2019, 3-car 170202 worked TfW Rail's first Class 170 passenger services (between Bridgend and Ebbw Vale Town via Cardiff Central), and five units (three 3-car and two 2-car) were in passenger service on December 16th, 2019. The units had been refurbished under Greater Anglia and are initially being used by TfW Rail cosmetically unchanged (other than the different operator logos), but as they will be retained for the duration of the franchise, it is planned that they will later receive further refurbishment to TfW Rail specification.

#### Class 142/143 *Pacers* and Mark 3 sets

As of April 2019, all of TfW Rail's Class 142 & 143 'Pacer' railbus DMUs, which were intended to be withdrawn and replaced by the 1 January 2020 PRM deadline but will now continue in service until July 2020 under dispensation from law, have had advertising vinyls applied, with the messages 'The start of a new journey', 'The journey is almost over for old trains', and 'These trains will terminate soon', stating rolling stock, infrastructure and service improvements. The Mark 3 carriages for the locomotive-hauled trains have had Transport for Wales logos applied to the ex-Arriva Trains Wales livery, as they will be withdrawn and replaced in 2020.[*citation needed*]

#### Class 150, 153, 158 and 175 DMUs

The rest of TfW Rail's rolling stock (the Class 150, 153, 158 and 175 DMUs), which will be withdrawn and replaced by 2023 (except the 9 "shorter-term" 153s which will be withdrawn by the end of 2020), is in the process of undergoing several changes. These include the application of Transport for Wales livery, and TfW Rail specification interior refurbishment (including new seat moquette, floor coverings and table surfaces, as well as AC and USB power sockets).[*citation needed*]

In addition, the 150s/153s/158s staying until 2022–23 are receiving PRM-TSI 2020 (Persons with Reduced Mobility – Technical Specifications for Interoperability) modifications (the 175s exceed the RVAR 1998 they were built to and are accepted without modification).

### Train maintenance depots

TfW Rail's current fleet is stored and maintained at the following depots.

* Cardiff Canton: Class 142, Class 143, Class 150, Class 153, Class 170 and Class 769 units, and locomotive-hauled trains. Also a stabling point for 158s and 175s.
* Chester (Alstom): Class 175 units (main)
* Machynlleth: Class 158 units (main)
* Holyhead: Stabling point (refuelling and light maintenance) for locomotive-hauled trains and DMUs
* Crewe Carriage Sidings (Arriva TrainCare): Class 150, Class 153 and Class 158 units, and locomotive-hauled trains. Stabling point and light maintenance.

Due to space limitations, Chrysalis Rail currently allows TfW Rail to store any unallocated units or carriages at its Landore TMD in Swansea, even if they are not being worked on. This arrangement has been in place since late 2019.