Arriva Trains Wales - The most Overcrowded operator!? | Failed Franchises #25: ATW Part One

[@Vanmanyo]

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

[@6yjjk]

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.

[@DKS225]

The Pacers had the dubious nickname of "Nodding Donkeys" in that they worked better on welded track than jointed track. That and they bounced up and down on the latter. That said The Cambrian Coast route in the late 80's had RETB or Radio Electronic Token Block infrastructure installed beforehand similar to that of The Far North, Kyle Of Lochalsh and The West Highland lines.

[@TimothyWorel-f8j]

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.

[@smokingspitfire1197]

I used to take the train on the Aberdare line to central every day while at college. Was always gutted to see a Pacer rattle up to the platform. Looking forward to TFW’s new trains!

[@AVATION_FAN]

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

[@JohnFisher-n2m]

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.

[@AFCManUk]

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

[@paulaylesbury]

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

[@katrinabryce]

Yes, they closed their High Wycombe and Aylesbury depots, with most services taken over by Carousel Buses.

[@ILoveBelarus962]

Love from Belarus❤

[@andybray9791]

Imagine line via Bala reopening!!

[@Ybillz]

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

[@Vanmanyo]

It's on the list!

[@ElijahsTransport]

Please do more stragglers videos

[@ViktorFromDK]

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

[@knigweenis7092]

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!

[@EuroDC1990]

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.

[@DarrenChilvers]

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

[@katrinabryce]

Chiltern's 165 fleet hasn't completely fallen to bits yet, but they are clearly not intending to do anything to stop that happen. Same with CrossCountry's fleet of Class 220s and 221s. They are definitely showing their age, and they put out the absolute minimum number of carriages they can get away with.

[@DarrenChilvers]

@katrinabryce that's arriva for you, sweating there assists, but Chiltern ceo recently said that the 165's are end of life virtually

[@paulaylesbury]

@@DarrenChilversand Arriva is doing its very best to prove the point.

[@howardmiao5150]

Arriva really have ruined Chiltern since they took over though. It and CrossCountry haven’t had any investment since the previous franchises. They really are just incapable of understanding the concept that their operation should have any standards at all for passengers.

[@Danse_Macabre_125]

Meanwhile, the cantankerous mess that is CrossCountry...

[@katrinabryce]

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.

[@Andrewjg_89]

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

[@paulfranklin8636]

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

[@Vanmanyo]

Thanks for your kind words Paul. Maybe you should understand the concept before commenting - this video is meant to educate about the history of an old operator. By your logic we shouldn't learn anything about history because it's not a thing anymore? Shouldn't learn about the USSR because it fell in 1991, shouldn't learn about WW2 because it happened 80 years ago? And I appreciate your kind words about my voice - perhaps think about what you're saying before you say it.

[@ILoveBelarus962]

@paulfranklin8636 Hate from Belarus❤

[@gbrdispatcher2254]

So funny Vanmanyo 🤣🤣