Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

• Chris Jones-Bridger, Buckley

  The introduction of the 231 units must come as a relief to TfW given the motley collection of rolling stock that TfW inherited after taking over from Arriva. Let it be recalled that the franchise let to Arriva was on a no growth basis and throughout was operated by the inherited rolling stock.
  
  Since taking over from Arriva TfW has been challenged providing rolling stock until delivery of the new fleets. The mandated withdrawal of 14x fleets proved challenging not helped by the dire availability of the 769 units sourced from repurposed EMU's originally sponsored by Arriva.
  
  Following the recent spate of fires the sidelining of the 175 fleet for safety reasons TfW has been left with yet another unplanned short term challenge. Yes North Wales routes have been bustituted but so have other services on the TfW network while 175 availability has been restored. Bear in mind though that Wrexham to Bidston was already being bustituted due to planned engineering work when the 175 fleet was stood down.
  
  Apart from the pandemic related challenges the introduction of new trains does appear to be an increasingly difficult challenge. However a train operator would be negligent to accept a train from a manufacturer without passing reliability assurance. Also a critical mass of staff need to have been trained to enable diagrams to be reliably covered by the new fleets. So in the interim units will be on milage accumulation associated with acceptance trials and training diagrams in addition to operational diagrams.
  
  As to the 230 units - only time will tell if TfW have made the right decision with continuing with the project after the challenges faced by Vivarail & it's subsequent collapse. Bear in mind to the chlenge of improving the Borderlands service has also faced the inertia of the regulatory process to get the additional train paths authorised.

• king arthur, buckley

  The service provided by TfW since it took over in 2018 has been shocking. It even makes the days of Arriva Trains Wales seem good - quite some achievement.
  
  At the time of writing there have been no trains at all on the Wrexham to Bidston route for several weeks. This is because of a 'shortage' of trains following issues with their class 175s. However dozens of their new 197s currently sit idle in sidings at Chester and Telford, still waiting to complete extensive test runs. Why it takes so many months for a train to be brought into service remains to be seen. Like the Wrexham to Bidston route, the long suffering Conwy Valley Line also has no trains, a situation that TfW says will continue into April.
  
  Then there's TfW's failed class 230 project but let's leave that one for another day.
  
  A quick glance at TrustPilot makes for grim reading; I wonder if any of the TfW leadership have reviewed their customer feedback? Overcrowded trains have become the norm, often dangerously, with two carriages being the standard train length regardless of the route. The sight of a class 150/2 pulling into Birmingham New Street at rush hour on the Birmingham International to Holyhead service is quite surreal. That any passengers continue to pay for this service is remarkable.
  
  TfW have been making excuses about a shortage of trains since 2018, often cancelling services on 'less important' lines (you guessed it, Conwy Valley and Wrexham to Bidston) for use in the south. Are they really suggesting that for four and a half years, no trains could be found anywhere in the world to plug these gaps for a temporary period?
  
  Cramming people on to trains like cattle and cancelling services indefinitely is not good enough, and smacks of an organisation that is keen to provide as little as they can get away with.
  
  It's perhaps no coincidence that the railway is nationalised in Wales. Good luck with 'attracting pople to use public transport'.