The worst thing that Virgin Trains did, was to have the trains to and from London, stopping at Flint. This slowed down the journey to London, when Virgin had made the journey quicker than under British Rail.

Tfw are no different. Overcrowding still a big thing. New trains the have should have been more than 2/3cars. Hollyhead to Birmingham still using 2 car 158 sets. Don’t think I’ve ever got a seat on that service

Just like their dismal bus "services".

Sorry, £2 plus 10% of your lost wallet monies in order to get the wallet back. No wonder people hated Arriva, that's blatant theft regardless of company policy I never liked Arriva, always finding ways to rip you off. I used to work up Llanishen way, so used the Coryton line. Which was frequently seeing train cancellations

I wasn't alive at the time, but the more I learn about Railtrack the more I get angry. I have no idea how that didn't turn everybody off of railway privatisation all together. Good the Government is making moves now, but shouldn't have taken so long.

"With the addition of Welsh, UK and EU government funding, they did achieve a lot of their aims" that kind of tells the whole story of franchising, doesn't it? Improvements generally only come when the state funds it, completely undermining the entire argument for privatisation. (Virgin Trains West Coast seemingly being the exception to prove the rule... especially given how Virgin mismanaged their other franchises.)

" They'll be around for a little bit longer " ooooooooooooooooooo!, you have a treat.

2016 RWC??

I quite like how Arriva Trains Wales operated across Wales and maintained their trains very well.

I do miss Arriva Trains Wales. I really do.

Qhat

There is chiden rellways by avrria from 2010

A year late

Not only did I see the TV documentary and loved it I also travelled with east coast several times and I think both East coast and LNER both proof that a nationalised east coast franchise is the only way a person I think that nationalising UK rail network again is the right move

I remember once, I think in 2019, sitting in Manchester Picadilly through 3 consecutive cancelled Northern (then run by Arriva) trains alongside probably nearly 200 other people before a 2 carriage 142, already with few seats remaining, came trundling along - and that's not even getting into all the times I've been squeezed into single carriage sprinters in Wales after cancellations. I don't know what it is with Arriva but they've never been able to run public transport anywhere.

I would say that Arriva Trains Wales have made rail services more reliable but yes overcrowding was the main issue and that’s why Arriva Trains Wales became a failure for Wales’s railways.

Well both ATW/TFW are both awful, always cancellations, delays, etc. Wales has one of the worst railways in the UK

Great content as always very much appreciated. Please do old First Great Western/GWR as it’s been a one TOC franchise pretty much since privatisation and undergone many changes over the years

More like 100% wallet tax

There is a common theme with Privatised train operators of not long past. They make great investments at the start as part of the franchise commitments and make a loss due to all the money poured in at the start. There is always a gross miscalculation in passenger growth (or lack of!) Then midway the investment is slowly being repaid but not as fast as the parent company predicted. Then as a result towards the end of the franchise - thats when you see the ruthless recruitment freezes, cost cutting, sod all invesment, budgets cut, staff wearing scruffy uniforms as they cant order replacements and whatever small profit "earned" retained to the parent company.

Sounds like you got a doosie of a cold there VanManyo!

No your not been harsh 💯 agree with you

Awesome video as always

Unfortunately, where UK railways are concerned, Arriva are an absolute nightmare and break everything they touch - Whether through complete incompetence or simply a failure to invest and make improvements, at this point they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the UK's railways.

you should make some videos about the different operators of scotrail.

A huge thanks to those who have allowed me to use their footage for todays video - whom without this video would not be possible to make; antman09ful: www.youtube.com/@antman09ful1 fmnut: www.youtube.com/@fmnut PTUK/video47: www.youtube.com/@video47 theghostontheline: www.youtube.com/@ghostontheline Also thanks to Iain Murphy, who I forgot to add on the members list!

Loved the 2 videos have noticed that been sub for 2 months but I’m not on the list at end of video am looking forward to next one

How can this be a remote station, it's only ten miles from Norwich and Great Yarmouth. There are very isolated stations in Wales and the north of Scotland.

Nice video❤❤

They’re certainly making the country cross

No mention of the route to Gloucester. Remember Class 142, 150 and 158 running on that route back in 2010-2014. AWT even manged Lydney station in England.

I reckon the Chiltern services between Aylesbury and Marylebone must be a contender for most overcrowded these days! :D

very nice!

Arriva Trains Wales aren’t that good and they promised to bring in more extra trains.

What is the point of this video. Arriva stopped running train in Wales 6 years ago. Aslo talk about an annoying voice...off you go

TFW is no less overcrowded. Any North to South train has just a little more room to move and breathe than one Hitler ran to a concentration camp. Especially if Wales happen to be competing in Rugby or Football that day. In which case a train with two carriages would leave Holyhead and by where I get in in Ruabon by Wrexham you're getting squeezed on, and by Shrewsbury it's no longer letting people on if they can get away with it Bring back Wrexham and Shropshire!

Love from Belarus❤

5:12 I think you mean ETCS (European Train Control System) and not ECTS

Imagine line via Bala reopening!!

I can remember catching the Merthyr services from Cardiff when i was in uni. All too often, they would allocate a sigle Class 153 brick, which meant that if you caught the train at Queen Street, youd have to stand until Pontypridd.

Fun Fact: I went To Taffs Well Train Depot While It was Under Construction at the Time, I Was Told that With The Pacers, Their Engines Would Typically Break, All they had to do was Kick the train and it would start Working Again🤣 Rip To The Pacers though

For your information the 121 bubble car was found to have a load of asbestos found in its walls floor etc therefore obviously had to be binned

They could probably get VIA Rail's Renaissance Coaches once they're retired at the end of next year, they were originally built for British Loading Gauge anyways, just hire some 68s and be done with it.

Im on now I wish I got a longer more expensive train. They always bad, always cancelling service and the design of the trains are bad. Always feel pissed off on a cross country train lol

Chiltern has been ruined by Arriva and the sooner their franchise expires the better. The 165s are due to be replaced at some stage in the next 5 years, but the insides of them haven’t had a deep clean in years. They are filthy. Stations are unkempt and there are now way too many cancellations. Their buses have largely disappeared from the Chilterns, and very few shed a tear when that happened. I think the same will happen again once their franchise ends for the trains

Anything related to Arriva, or indeed the entire Deutsche Bahn group is a failure. Same story everywhere, the absolute minimum of maintenance, and zero investment in new vehicles.

Runcorn East was my local station for several years, so I rode Arriva Trains Wales a lot. Fantastic to have a direct train to Manchester (later to the airport) and the north Wales beaches. And it was easier to take the train to the great chippy in Frodsham than walk to the dodgy local one. However, there was some twisted person in charge of allocating trains to services. Last train on a Tuesday night, two people on it? Couple two three-car 175s together. Chester Races on? Two-car 158. Happened often enough that I'm convinced it was deliberate.

Anything arriva do that's in arriva livery is bad, only thing you could possibly say they have done ok is Chiltern Trains, but that's not had arrivas cr*p livery

Please do more stragglers videos

A huge thanks to those who have allowed me to use their footage for todays video - whom without this video would not be possible to make; fmnut: www.youtube.com/@fmnut PTUK/video47: www.youtube.com/@video47 theghostontheline: www.youtube.com/@ghostontheline