Fishguard Trains

asking for more

Before Christmas (on December 16th) we reported that Arriva’s Christmas Poster displaying last trains between Cardiff and West Wales completely ignored Fishguard. (see our report)

We immediately emailed Arriva asking them to explain why, adding: “Please would you also supply the missing information, so that we can advise travellers to and from Fishguard and the Irish ferry.”

Arriva’s answer was “Our usual target response time is ten working days, and we aim to provide you with a full reply within this timescale”. Not much Christmas cheer for travellers there. But today Fishguard Trains is pleased to receive and pass on this message from Arriva, in time for the New Year:

“Thank you for your e-mail in which you bring to my attention that the downloadable poster showing late trains to West Wales on 25^th and 31^st December does not show trains to Fishguard Harbour. Please accept my apologies for a possible oversight on our behalf on this occasion. 

Having now had the opportunity to interrogate the Journey Planning facility on both the Arriva Trains Wales and National Rail Enquiries websites; I see that they both show that on 31^st December the 18:04 from Cardiff central arrives at Fishguard Harbour at 20:55 with a change at Clarbeston Road.

Please also accept my apologies as you will receive this response after the 24^th December however I trust that you were able to acquire the information you needed for this date from an alternative source.

Once again please accept my apologies for the inaccuracy of our poster and for any inconvenience you may have been caused as a result.”

Fishguard Trains hopes that in 2012 Arriva will enthusiastically promote our new service, rather than ignore it at every opportunity.

One small step ...

Compared to the magnificent 186-mile Pembrokeshire Coast Path, Pembroke-shire’s newest path barely reaches 186 feet – but it’s still a very fine Christmas present for Fishguard and Goodwick.

connecting link

Completed in the last few days before the holidays, the path is only a few steps long, but it’s one giant step towards reconnecting Fishguard to the world of public transport. Starting from the layby next to Fishguard Harbour roundabout, where buses will call in future, it heads straight to the new station at Goodwick.

From March, bus passengers, shoppers, walkers, cyclists, students, visitors and local people will all be using this newly laid path to reach our newly-running trains. Your journey of thirty miles or a thousand will start on this tarmac.

clearing the decks

And there’s also visible progress for car drivers. Inside the station yard, the mountain of ballast has been largely removed (shipped off to be welcomed by the Gwili Railway), barriers have gone up to define the works area, and there are the signs of a park-and-ride car park in the making.

bright prospect

Fishguard Trains has reported all the developments through 2011 – both welcome and less than welcome – and we’ll be here next year to continue coverage. Thanks for taking part, and we look forward to sharing the journey for an exciting new year of transport improvements in north Pembrokeshire.

Nadolig Llawen!

police photo

A level crossing between Clunderwen and Whitland was the scene of a crash this morning between a lorry with a hay trailer and an eastbound train.

The train, the 9:08 from Milford to Manchester, was approaching Whitland at around 9:44. Despite emergency braking, it hit the lorry, which was reported to be stationary on the tracks at the crossing. The lorry driver, said to be from Llanboidy, has been arrested. The train was busy, and three people are reported injured and have been taken to hospital. The train was not derailed, though it pushed the vehicle some way along the tracks after impact.

The Milford and Fishguard lines are closed until further notice, with Arriva terminating and starting services at Carmarthen, and rail replacement buses serving stations to/from Fishguard and Milford. Tonight Arriva reports “An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed. Road transport is in place from Carmarthen – Milford Haven/Fishguard and vice versa.” However the Carmarthen to Pembroke Dock branch is running normally.

line still closed

Fishguard Trains advises anyone travelling on Tuesday 20th to check the Arriva LIVE SERVICE INFORMATION link here for details of how each service is affected.

The 9:08 Milford train does not have a timetabled connecting service from Fishguard. This morning it would have been preceded through Whitland by the 8:04 from Fishguard to Manchester, the last eastbound service just an hour before the crash.

UPDATE Tuesday December 20th 13:25

Services through Whitland remain suspended. Arriva is providing a bus replacement service westwards from Carmarthen. There is also a shuttle train service between Clarbeston Road and Milford. Keep checking the Arriva LIVE SERVICE INFORMATION link for the latest news.

UPDATE 15:34

National Rail Enquiries is confirming that “until further notice” a shuttle train service is running between Clarbeston Road and Milford, and buses replace trains between Carmarthen, Fishguard and Haverfordwest. All Pembrokeshire to Manchester trains are retimed. For travellers to Ireland, “every effort will be made to make sure that passengers will make connections onto ferries from Fishguard Harbour to Rosslare.”

UPDATE 21:08

Network Rail is planning to reopen the line for a full service from Wednesday 21st.

Buses replaced trains between Carmarthen, Fishguard and Haverfordwest all today (Tuesday) as Network Rail used a crane to remove both lorry and train from the line.  It now appears that seven people suffered minor injuries in the crash on Monday morning. We wish them all a speedy recovery in time for the holidays.

Meanwhile, RAILNEWS.co.uk is reporting Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service saying it appeared that a barrier had come down on the lorry just before the collision at Llanboidy automatic half barrier crossing.

As far as Fishguard Trains can find out, a normal train timetable is running starting from tonight’s boat train, departing Fishguard at 1:50. But as ever, check the live service information link before travelling.

no room at the inn

This Christmas, Arriva has nothing special for Fishguard.

Absolutely nothing.

Here’s their poster displaying LAST TRAINS on CHRISTMAS EVE and NEW YEARS EVE CARDIFF CENTRAL to WEST WALES

Christmas Posters 2012 Cdf – West Wales-2

Fishguard doesn’t get a mention.

If you want to know how late you can party in Cardiff before catching the last train to Skewen, fine.

If you’re having Christmas Eve drinks in Penally and need to reach Carmarthen before midnight, just check the poster.

If you want to see if there’s time for a last minute Swansea shopping trip from Clunderwen, the information’s all here.

But if you want to travel to or from Fishguard on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, you’re out of luck. Check elsewhere. No room in the timetable. There might be trains running, but Arriva’s not telling you, not here anyway.

Up to now, Arriva’s timetablers have managed to lose Fishguard trains in their ones and twos. We reported the latest loss here on December 4th. This time the TIME table LORDS have excelled themselves. Our entire service – both the Irish boat trains and our extra new services – simply don’t rate a mention in their Last Trains poster.

Words (nearly) fail us. Our new, experimental service needs all the promotion it can get. Accurate, imaginative, appealing publicity. Instead we get ignored.

So here’s Fishguard Trains’ New Year Resolution for Arriva Trains Wales: when it comes to travel and timetable information, MUST TRY HARDER!

[Many thanks to Bernard Allan from Co Wexford for tipping us off. Bernard suggests that perhaps Father Christmas is operating our Christmas Eve services. Ho ho ho.]

UPDATE December 16th: Fishguard Trains has asked Arriva to supply the missing information, so we can advise Christmas travellers to and from Fishguard and the Irish ferry. Arriva replies: “Our usual target response time is ten working days, and we aim to provide you with a full reply within this timescale”.  With Christmas and New Year Bank Holidays coming up, ten working days from today gets us to January 4th 2012.

UPDATE December 27th: A reply from Arriva! See here.

before ...

The TimeTABLE Lords have struck again! Another precious Fishguard train has gone missing from the timetable.

Arriva’s winter timetable, starting this month and running to May 2012, has lost a through train from Hereford, Cardiff and Swansea, apparently replacing it with a shuttle from Whitland with a wait of over one hour at that station.

Here is the morning service as shown in the autumn 2011 timetable. Leaving Hereford at 5:25, it provides a through service right across Wales, from Abergavenny to Fishguard, leaving Cardiff at 6:42, Swansea at 7:50 and Carmarthen at 8:45, to reach Fishguard at 9:46.

At our end of the line it may not be the most heavily used of our new services during winter, but come spring and summer, it will be one of the most attractive services for our tourist industry to promote to visitors from south-east Wales and beyond. A through train to Fishguard arriving in time for a full day ahead: that is a valuable asset. But what has happened to the service in Arriva’s winter-spring 2012 timetable?

... and after

Here is the new service – just a shuttle from at Whitland at 9:07, reaching Fishguard at 9:46. To use this service from anywhere further east, it seems you have to leave Cardiff at 5:39, Swansea at 6:53. And you have to wait for 1 hour 7 minutes at Whitland.

What on earth is going on?

If you turn over from page 25 in the new timetable, on the next page there’s a train from Cardiff and points east that reaches Whitland at 8:59, continuing to Pembroke Dock. If you catch this train – shown LATER in the timetable, you will be in Whitland in time for the 9:07 shuttle to Fishguard. But who looks later in a timetable for an earlier train?

Fishguard Trains asked Arriva what’s changed. We suspected nothing, and this is just another timetable error. We were right. We asked “Why does a later train from Whitland appear on an earlier page?”

This is due to the software that is used to input the timetable information. It will automatically sort by certain locations. This software is programmed by Network Rail and I have brought your concerns to the attention of our Service Planning Assistant for their reference.

We wondered if Arriva was aware this will affect passengers wanting information on connections from Cardiff etc to Fishguard?

This service will still provide a connection off the 06.42 Cardiff Central to Pembroke Dock service.

We suspected that the “connection” was actually the through service that separates into Pembroke and Fishguard sections at Whitland:

Yes, the services will continue to detach at Whitland to Fishguard Harbour

So if this is still a through service from Cardiff to Fishguard, shouldn’t the timetable show it as such?

Again, this is down to the software that is used. When Network Rail changed their systems last year all attaching/detaching trains have to manually entered, and our Service Planning Assistant needs to be made aware of them. This issue has been brought to the attention of our Train Planning Team.

Arriva hoped that this has addressed our concerns. But has it?

ready to board

The track is now relaid close to the platform at Goodwick. Pembrokeshire County Council are working to complete and reopen the station in March 2012. So what’s left to be done, and what happens next?

As the picture shows, the rail track is back where it belongs, after Network Rail relaid it on November 15/16 – see the Fishguard Trains video and picture report here.

surplus to requirements

Network Rail still has to return for some minor works on the platform – tidying and pointing, and checking that the surface meets today’s standards.

But the very next job is to remove the huge stone pile, left from track relaying works.

Once that’s gone, Pembrokeshire CC’s contractors can go in and resurface the car park. The lack of car parking at Fishguard Harbour Station always made that a hopeless terminus for a local service. So the station car park will not only make our trains accessible to the twin towns, but to the whole of  North Pembrokeshire.

know a good roofer?

What about the brick building, the last undemolished part of old Goodwick station? Fishguard Trains was told this week that it has to be re-roofed, but beyond that there are no plans to use it at present. That seems like a fine opportunity – but for what? Presumably there will be a simple shelter on the platform, and eventually Pembrokeshire CC will be required (in law) to build a proper replacement for the original station building – as part of the conservation area. So the brick building is waiting for a new role. Any suggestions?

Fishguard Trains asked Pembrokeshire CC if the car park will also provide a bus interchange? Apparently not, is the answer. Buses will instead stop outside the station. We look forward with interest to learning how this will be managed,  using the present lay-by.

final steps

No less than five bus routes can and should stop at Goodwick Station – the 410 town bus of course, but also the 413 Fishguard-St Davids. the 404 Strumble Shuttle and 405 Poppit Rocket (extended down from its present terminus at Fishguard Square), and above all the 412 Cardigan to Haverforwest service.

This is not a detail. Welsh Government is committed to an integrated transport policy, but public transport in and around Fishguard is anything but integrated. Reopening the town’s station is a critical opportunity to bring together all the different bus and rail services. Only then will the whole of North Pembrokeshire benefit from the public money that is going into the rail service. And only then will we have a decent alternative to our cars.

Live five-day weather forecast for Fishguard

This Weather Widget is provided by the Met Office

Eight months ago today, Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones announced up to £1.4m funding annually for extra train services to Fishguard. Eight months later we have the new trains, and soon we’ll have a new station for them to stop at. Many questions remain, but everyone agrees we need this to succeed.

To mark the day, Fishguard Trains offers a few figures from official sources:

Mind the Gap

Between April-September this year, Welsh Government paid £85,748,275 to Arriva Trains Wales (source: wales.gov.uk). That’s an annual rate of £171,496,550.

If Welsh Government were to spend the maximum £1.4m on Fishguard’s subsidised service (it would be interesting to know what they are spending), that would represent just over 0.8% of all Welsh expenditure on Arriva.

The population of Wales has recently topped 3 million (3,006400 to be exact). What’s the local population served by the new service? Extending our patch as far as Dinas, Newport, Scleddau and Letterston, there are 11,274 of us. We amount to just under 0.4% of the Welsh population.

So if the maximum was spent, we would have a generous share of the national spend: 0.8% for only 0.4% of the population.

But that does not account for seasonal visitors, the mainstay of our economy. If you add them – let’s say our population doubles in the summer – then 22,548 people are served by the new service. That’s nearly 0.8% of the Welsh population.

Of course, that argument depends on our success in persuading our seasonal visitors to leave the car at home and come by train. Are we gearing up to do that in 2012?

P.S. Have you used the new Fishguard Trains INDEX yet? It’s a quick way of searching this site for the stories that interest you. Click INDEX above. For example, this post is indexed under MARKETING.