Press releases from North Wales branch

PRESS RELEASE ++++ DATGANIAD IR WASG

Date: 19/10/98 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Rod Fairley 01352 756964 or Dave Walters 01407 741935

North Wales is getting a raw deal from rail privatisation

The Railway Development Society is concerned that North Wales is bearing the brunt of cuts and fare increases by North Western Trains, the main train operator in the area.

Many fares in North Wales increased by three times the rate of inflation at the end of September as part of NWTs attempts to avoid financial problems. NWT customers in the Great Manchester area have not had comparable increases, because the area is covered by a Passenger Transport Executive.

North Wales will also bear the brunt of service cuts in next May's timetable, according to recent reports. The entire Sunday service on the Wrexham-Bidston line is apparently being considered for withdrawal as well as several services on the Chester-Holyhead main line.

Rod Fairley, chairman of RDS North Wales, said: We are concerned that North Wales is being seen as the soft touch for North Western Trains, which is in financial trouble through no fault of its Welsh customers. There is no Passenger Transport Executive in North Wales to object to downgrading of services. The cuts arise because NWTs Government subsidy is falling off quickly. It will continue to do so for the rest of the 7 year franchise period. We dread to think what else NWT may do to services in North Wales if passengers, politicians and the Welsh Office do not make a stand now.

In the future we would hope the Welsh Assembly will protect Welsh interests in these matters. It should be given the necessary powers as soon as possible. North Wales has also seen worse rolling stock substituted by NWT on some services this year. A locomotive-hauled train on the Holyhead-Chester main line was replaced by a 1950s Diesel Multiple Unit which was totally unsuitable for such a long journey.

In order to launch new services from Blackpool and Rochdale to London, several Class 158 express trains were taken off the North Wales main line and replaced by Class 156 units, an older and less comfortable type of train.

PRESS RELEASE ++++ DATGANIAD IR WASG

Date: 2/11/98 Contact: Dave Sallery 01745 889783 or Rod Fairley 01352 756964

North Western Trains is hitting leisure travellers

Research by the Railway Development Society's North Wales branch reveals that a cheap day return ticket by North Western Trains can cost more than twice as much, per mile, as a cheap day return from another train operator in the area.

The research, by RDS North Wales Press Officer, Dave Sallery, shows a huge variation in the cost per mile of day returns to or from Chester by three different operators.

Central Trains, which sets fares from Chester to Shrewsbury and to Birmingham, charges roughly half as much per mile as North Western Trains. A cheap day return from Llandudno Junction to Chester (NWT) costs £9.25 but a cheap day return from Shrewsbury to Chester (Central Trains) costs £4.90 - for almost the same distance.

A cheap day return from Liverpool to Chester (18 miles each way) on the Merseyrail Electrics franchise costs £3.20. Prestatyn to Chester (26 miles) costs £7.15 - well over twice as much for just a few extra miles.

Dave Sallery said: We are baffled and disappointed that North Western Trains wants to charge so much more than other franchises for so-called cheap day return tickets. We might have expected this if the trains were badly overcrowded, but most of them have plenty of spare seats. We can only conclude that NWT is deliberately trying to discourage many leisure travellers from using the train.

This does not fit in very well with the Government's Transport Policy which aims to transfer people from the roads to the railways, not the other way around. RDS North Wales wants cheap day returns on the North Wales Coast reduced immediately for the winter at least, as a gesture that NWT cares about the areas it serves.

In Rhyl there aren't the jobs and there isn't the money for people to pay 14p per mile to go to Chester. At this time of the year there arent many people in Rhyl either, but NWTs latest fares hike will not help the efforts that are being made to boost out of season tourism in the resorts along the coast.

Research by: Dave Sallery, RDS North Wales

Information Source: National Rail Fares Manual

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