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Trains restart after signal chaos
2011-03-22 15:21:23
22 March 2011 Last updated at 15:05 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print South Wales trains restart as 20,000 passengers delayed
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//Peter Leppard of Arriva Trains Wales: ''I'm sorry they weren't able to travel this morning''
A Network Rail spokesman said a blown fuse was found in the power supply and they were still working with Western Power to investigate the cause.
"Trains are now on the move, however there are still some slight delays as we ease into normal time-table by this evening's rush hour," said a spokeswoman at 14.20 GMT.
"We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused and we advise passengers to check before they travel into and out of Cardiff today."
British Transport Police (BTP) said it had been informed and was ruling out any foul play.
Peter Leppard, of Arriva, said trains should get back to normal by about 1500 GMT.
He said trains were running again, but they may not be quite to timetable for a few hours.
Mr Leppard some stranded trains were able to get back to the stations they came from, but others had to stay where they were for up to two hours.
He said: "I think people have been very understanding on the whole. We occasionally get power supply problems but nothing of this magnitude.
"We will be meeting with Western Power Distribution to discuss the problem this afternoon."
A deserted Cardiff Central rail platformMr Leppard anyone who had "not been able to travel" would be able to get a refund.
Michael Bevan, 48, from Aberdare, Cynon Valley, who commutes to work every day to Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, told the BBC Wales News website: "Today the train stopped just passed Radyr and we were there for about an hour.
"It reversed a bit and we ended up getting on as bus at Radyr and that took me here to Cardiff Central. I was told there are no buses or trains to Barry. I'm going to get a lift now to Barry and worry about getting home later on."
Vanessa Tyndale, 22, who was trying to travel to Bristol where she is a student, said: "I am just visiting friends and they said there is a power cut and nothing has changed for about two hours.
"It looks like I am just going to have to stay in Cardiff. I'm just going back to my friends and will maybe get a train later of tomorrow morning."
But appart from delays for staff reaching work, the rail disruption may not have had a major impact on business in south Wales.
Freightliner, which runs coal, aggregates and container services in south Wales, said that despite some delays it had suffered no cancellations or major effects to its operations.
Cardiff council said there was little impact on its work.
A Welsh Assembly Government spokesman said: "We're in constant contact with Network Rail who have assured us that they are taking all possible steps to rectify the problem."
Have you been affected by the rail problems in south Wales? Let us know using the form below. A selection of your responses are published.
Caught the 8am out of Swansea and got as far as Port Talbot. I was travelling to London with my fiancee for her birthday. We're now on a train back to Swansea and will have to make alternative arrangements to get there. We have a hotel booked for tonight so nothing is going to stop us getting there :-)
I commute from Bristol to Cardiff daily. I tried to catch 0744 train from Patchway station to Cardiff Central only for it to be cancelled. Walked 1.5 miles to Parkway for the 0807 main line train and just missed it. Thank goodness I did because I'd now be stuck in Newport instead of being at home working.
Been on the train since 7.30 (1.75 hours) and only made it to Pontypridd. Chaos everywhere. Decided to go home after speaking to my boss otherwise I don't know how I'd get back out of Cardiff tonight.
I got on a train at normal from Pengam,blackwood, south wales as normal this morning at 7.10, By 7.20, we had stopped at Llanvradach station...
Just made is back to Bridgend having been stuck on fgw to Cardiff. Now taking car with 4 other work colleagues
This is the reason people don't want to take public transport - because contrary to the Arriva spokesman's statement, this is NOT extremely rare. My train frequently doesn't turn up for the commuter run in the morning, and just a couple of months ago there was yet another signal failure leading to hordes of people milling about Queen Street Station.
Been stuck in Barry for two hours, I've seen on Twitter that there are replacement buses from Radyr, Newport and bridgend, why none here?
Correcting your bulletin, there are NO replacement bus services that I am aware of. I am on the 07.30 Carmarthen to London Paddington for business meetings this afternoon, but NO alternative transport is provided as I write this, and I'm advised that it is unlikely that there will be any. We have been sitting in Swansea for over an hour.
If it's not one things it's another for commuters, first all the snow in December and now a power failure halts rail services.
I couldnt get to work experience
No one informed us how long it would be it just said train delayed, then a Gentleman from the street opposite the train station came out from his house and shouted accross to us that "there were no trains running it was on the news" he said so several of us caught a bus in to bridgend from pontyclun that took 45-50 min at 2.5 times the cost i just whish they annonced it earlier instead of just leaving us wondering what was happening if it wasn't for that man we would have all still been waiting there.
Was en route from Swansea to Bristol for some important meetings when the train was stopped at P Talbot and we were advised to return on a train at the platform to return to Swansea. Got around the meetings, set up conference calls so all is not lost, I do enjoy my days out to Bristol, on the odd occasion I have to travel. Nothing seen of the onward bus services!
We sat on the train tracks outside Trehafod for around 25 minutes, then they told us the service would be terminating in Pontypridd. We all scrambled to get a bus or make other arrangements, but it meant I couldn't complete my journey to London Paddington from Cardiff Central. I had no idea until I got to Central Station (2.5 hours after I'd left the valleys) that services to/from Cardiff were affected as well. Hoping I can get to Paddington later this afternoon.
Instead of cars, the car park at Radyr station this morning was full of stranded passengers waiting for replacement bus services. As more trains arrived from the Valleys, the end of the queue was growing back to my house!
this is rubbish, i was on the train at 650 this morning, and we stopped outside pontypridd for 10 mins. then we was advised due to signalling issues the train is termiantiing and to ask staff on the station what was happening.
The Marches line (Newport - Cwmbran - Pontypool - Abergavenny and north through Hereford) is still operational, with passenger trains terminating at Newport - my train was 5 minutes late in to Newport this morning. Freight trains are also running on the Marches line. According to your article, trains west of Bridgend can also run, although they may be disrupted. Since when has Cardiff been the whole of South Wales?
I got on a train at 7:10 and the train stopped at Pencoed for over an hour before the train turned around and got back to Bridgend at 8:20.
I caught the 7.11 train from Rogerstone this morning on the Ebbw Vale Line we were stranded on this train for over an hour before Arriva trains wales took us into Newport for 8.47am there was little organisation and then when the platform was full we were advised that there would be buses outside the station from 9.15 am there was already a very large queue so I made alternative arrangement and caught the Newport Bus main service to cardiff . The Newport Bus service were brilliant and were put extra buses on for the large volume of new passengers.
Getting to work in Gloucester from South Wales was a real trial this morning, got here in the end, but the total lack of information at my station (Severn Tunnel Junction) made it really difficult to plan the journey in!
3hr 10min journey from Abercynon, stuck at Radyr - Staff had no idea when buses were turning up at Radyr station, there was at least 300 people waiting for a bus at one point. The bus that turned up had a capacity of 65!!
I caught the 0700 train from Bridgend to Paddington. Got as far as Pencoed (5 miles outside Bridgend) and at about 0900 returned back to Bridgend. I work in Bristol and having spoken to a member of staff they advised me that it was unlikely that any trains would be running for a significant period. I have now caught the bus home!
I waited for 40 minutes at Lisvane just outside Cardiff. There are electronic boards at every single station on my valley line service - why can't Arriva post a message there for passengers? The boards simply show the next train until its arrival time passes and then replace it with the next one. This leaves passengers in a complete state of limbo - no-one knew whether to wait and hope or just leave! They're just relying that people will have smart phones/3G to check the website or twitter feed, and that's not good enough!
I went to Cardiff Central to got to Carmarthen 09:04. When I went to customer services to find out why there were no trains on the board there was a woman saying "I pay over £600 a year on train fares, who's going to pay for my taxi to Treforest? I work in [not so far away] Treforest. This is ridiculous! Ridiculous!" I say well done to the customer service guy for keeping his calm with this individual, who was clearly unable to comprehend the situation was beyond anyones control.
Got to Newport train station this morning lots people milling around, I get the Newport to Bristol train to get to work, asked about bristol trains they said the portesmouth train was running but had no idea what time it arriving..not much help waited around no other information given, decided to go home get car and drove in, even with extra expence, that i shall be asking Great Western to return as had bought a weekly ticket this week.
wish people would get a grip. Power surges happen. Get over it. If you're unhappy with the train service, don't get the train.
My journey was delayed by about 90 minutes this morning. I appreciate it's rare and not much can be done but better communication at Newport station about where to wait for coaches would have been good. The queuing system was non existent and the coach was playing very loud music, not great when people were trying to ring their offices to apologise for delays!
Train from merthyr(7.08) to cardiff, delayed to ponty where we were promised replacement buses.no buses arrived. told to get back on train to radyr, where we again were promised replacement buses. for the amount of people that were on the platform, you would have needed about 10 buses. no sign of buses so decided to walk to cardiff university, a walk of 90 mins. i left the house at 6.30 this morning, and eventually got to work at 10.30.
Considering there was a massive power surge I think Arriva Trains have coped well. I managed to get to work (even though I was 75 minutes late). I did have to change trains at Pontypridd and catch the Bus from Radyr into Cardiff town but the main thing is I got here. Let's hope I will be able to make it home tonight
Went to Cardiff Central to catch the 7.30am train and told trains were not running due to signal failure. Waited till 8.50am before replacement buses took us to Newport. Got into Newport about 9.30am and caught the London train to Bristol Parkway and from there caught the trian to Bristol Temple Meads. Eventually got to the office at about 11.00am. On the bright side, I made friends while waiting for the bus and we will be starting a car share as soon as we find parking in Bristol.
Travelled from Risca this morning we were informed after we boarded the train about the signalling issues. We were waiting on board for around an hour. we were taken back to Risca where upon I boarded a bus to Newport, then to Cardiff on the 30 bus and then a bay car. arrived to work at 11.30am.
This morning I decided to get on the 0802 from Bargoed to Llanishen to get into work a little earlier. Passengers were told of the electricity power down in Cardiff having an adverse effect on trains with some being stopped in stations further down the line. Eventually within an hour there was a train to Ystrad Mynach and we were told that there would be a bus service to Cardiff. No buses arrived. However people did talk to the station guard who eventually said that trains were running as normal - I got into work at 11.35 thanks to the incompetence of this company. If Arriva Trains Wales were a restaurant, they would have no tips for service provided. Time to think of your customers first!
I was on the 07:40 FGW service from Neath to Cardiff this morning. It eventually got to Bridgend, and was then sent back to Swansea. This was obviously inconvenient for everyone, but the atmosphere on the train was much better than one would expect largely due to the train manager's frequent, informative and entertaining announcements and updates. Well done sir. We all enjoyed the 'we will be delayed here for the foreseeable future', though the delay itself was rather less welcome.
I was on the 7:30 train from Ebbw Vale to Cardiff, the train came to a stop in Rogerstone for 40 minutes where we allowed off to stretch our legs. Eventually an announcement was made that replacement buses were trying to be arranged for the 60+ people on board but this plan was rejected by ATW and the train returned to Ebbw Vale, dropping passengers off to make alternative arrangements to get to Cardiff. Only problem is - since the trains began there are only 2 buses to and from Cardiff each day from Abertillery, there were no other arrangements to be made as I don't drive so I've had to take the day off work with no pay.
I sat on the 07:15 train from Barry - for over an hour this morning. Had to catch a bus from outside the station to Cardiff - which took another hour or so.
I got to the station & waited for 15 minutes. Nothing was happening so went back to my house & drove. Main issue is that when things go wrong on the trains they have no Plan B at all. Plus no one announces any updates, not enough Chiefs to notify & update people.
Having finished the first of six 12 hour night shifts in Bridgend, as an agency nurse, I got the taxi to bridgend railway station. Did not get home until 11.30 am. to village in Carmarthen. Now I have to go back again tonight with even less sleep than I usually get! I would'nt mind if it was rare but delays are the norm now for whatever reason. There were no buses when I was there,nor at Swansea or anywhere else. This plus the recent strike has made me decide to get another car, soon.
I'm travelling to Salisbury and caught the 6.28 from Swansea, and I normally change at Cardiff and arrive into Salisbury at about 9.35am. I am only now as far as Bath. I will be 4 hours late, and will have spent 7 hours travelling. I can't understand how they hadn't been testing backup power for the signalling equipment.
Caught 8.04 from Mountain Ash and like many other swapped trains and buses to get to Queen street at around 10.10. The guard on our train was excellent letting people know what he knew and even offered his mobile to people to to ring work. He wouldn't sell a ticket to some travellers in case they needed to get off and not complete their journey He was constantly ringing colleagues to check the situation and relaying messages to the train. Yes it was a bit chaotic but he kept us fully informed which is all you can expect - well done him.
I was lucky because I missed my usual train which did leave Pontypridd. However, it's ridiculous that Arriva don't notify staff at manned stations of any problems with the lines - it's only when we asked the guards what was going on that they had to phone Radyr to find out what was causing the the delays because the only information they had at 7.30am on the boards was that everything was running fine!
How much effort does it take to inform passengers of the delays via the electronic message boards? What are they there for? So much wasted time hanging around wondering where all the trains are, when alternative transport could have been immediately sought. After three trains failed to turn up, the waiting passengers found out that there was a problem and walked to the bus stop. Meanwhile, more passengers arrived, and they who would have had no idea that there was a problem, because the message board said the trains were on time. The first thing to manage in these situations is customer expectation, which never seems to happen. This is frankly just terrible customer service.
Arrived at Penarth station to find the trains weren't running but no replacement bus service in operation either. Poor show by Arriva if they knew it was going to take several hours to fix. A group of us ended up getting a taxi instead - wish we had asked for a receipt to send Arriva a claim! The least they could have done was to arrange for valid train tickets to be accepted on the local bus services - think outside the box Arriva!
I usually get the 7.44am from Patchway in Bristol to Cardiff but thought I get an extra hour in at work and get the 6.35am. Really wish I hadn't bothered as we were stuck between Newport and Cardiff for about 2 and half hours before finally heading back to Newport! The "friendly neighbourhood train driver" tried to keep us informed but didn't seem to be getting much info from the Cardiff end, which is maybe why we were stuck there for so long!
I caught the train at 7:16am from Llansamlet as usual with the exception that I had my dog on with me, we slowed to a halt thinking wild horses were on the tracks again but no information was given for about 10 minutes, after which they annunced the problem leaving me 30 minutes late for work, my dog was panting and shaking leaving me stressed out, I was sitting on the train 5 minutes away from Bridgend for and hour and a half, It's terrible. Admitted problems happen but in my opinion the train 'service' as they call it should give a good standard of service because it's beyond a joke at the moment. Always drama.