Welsh minister lauds group for rail improvements

A new advertising campaign was launched on Wednesday to highlight this and other significant improvements made to the rail services.

The campaign, which includes a TV advert, celebrates the new jobs as well and aims to generate ticket sales, increase revenue and enable further investment in services.

Featuring real employees, the TV advert will show a behind-the-scenes view of the improvements the TfW team is currently undertaking, including investing £40m in upgrading its existing fleet and station deep-cleans.

Ken Skates, minister for economy and infrastructure said: “I hope customers will welcome the improvements TfW is making to our rail services. I’m delighted to see our Rail Services team embracing the Welsh Government’s ambitious vision for the railway in Wales and working hard to make it a reality for our customers.

“I’m pleased to welcome the 120 new members of the team to Transport for Wales and to thank everyone at TfW for their continued commitment to customers as we continue on this important journey of transformation.”

When TfW took over the franchise in 2018, the organisation published a timeline of changes “Coming Down the Track” detailing the transformational improvements that would be taking place by 2025.

Some improvements have already taken place which include reduced ticket prices, the deep clean of many stations and the refurbishment of several trains.

TfW has also introduced ‘Delay Repay 15’ which offers compensation or refunds to customers if their train has been delayed by more than 15 minutes.

Other improvements that will be taking place later this year and in 2020 include the launch of smart ticketing and the introduction of new fare initiatives which includes better fares for 6-18-year olds.

It hasn't been all plain sailing for the franchise though, with a number of issue with carriages of the track and delayed and cancelled trains when it first took over.