Standing room only on 'overcrowded' Good Friday trains into Shropshire and Wales
Passengers have had standing room only on crowded trains travelling through Shropshire on Good Friday.
Transport for Wales (TfW) services have been reported to be full in Wilmslow and not stopping at some major stations outside of the county.
This included the 1.30pm from Manchester Piccadilly, due in Tenby at 7.53pm, which was started from Wilmslow and did not call at Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport. The service came through Shropshire at about 3pm.
A spokesman for TfW said: "This is due to overcrowding."
The same issue of overcrowding was also reported for the 3.30pm Manchester Piccadilly to Carmarthen due at 8.59pm.
There have also been scores of cancelled trains on other routes through Shropshire and into Wales as the company continues to grapple with trains needing repairs.
Earlier this week TfW advised customers throughout parts of Wales and the Borders region that services may be very busy, with a reduced timetable in operation on other routes.
Jan Chaudhry-Van der Velde, chief operations officer at Transport for Wales, said: “We’d like to thank our customers for their continued patience while the vital transformation work takes place on the Valleys lines and as we continue to work to resolve the issues with our Class 175 trains.
“Our Class 175 trains have been receiving urgent safety checks and engine repairs, which has left us with a temporary shortage of rolling stock across the network. This has meant we have had to redistribute rolling stock to affect the minimum number of passengers possible, leading to replacement buses on some routes.
“As the Class 175s work through the repair programme over the next two weeks, the rolling stock shortages should ease, and the timetabled service can be restored.”
