Some weeks ago, I accused Transport for Wales of not being fit to manage a model railway set. Normally, you would imagine after such a broadside that the public relations flaks at TfW would have their knickers in a knot and be quick to supply reems of explanation. Or at least offer some defence, as PR flaks are paid to do. But the shower in the PR department at TfW seem just as inept at providing an explanation as their masters are at running train services.

My previous Northwest Passages column (Cambrian News, 9 Dec.) took aim at TfW over a train journey that took place on 4 Dec. This one, dear readers, concerns the following week, and specifically the train due to depart from Shrewsbury at 21:33 on Saturday, 11 Dec. That 21:33 departure time obviously wasn’t written in stone since it was actually delayed by an hour.

It was a two-car train. If you’re a regular user of the service to Aberystwyth, or have just used it once and are forever more sworn to any other method of travel as a result, you will know that two-carriage trains are the norm. Sometimes there might be four, but chances are two coaches will be dropped by the time it reaches Machynlleth.

No sooner had the train arrived at Shrewsbury than it was immediately boarded – and then some. Boarded seems too polite a word for what followed – more like every man, woman and child for themselves heading to the last lifeboat on the Titanic.

The coaches were absolutely heaving with many people standing, including a huge number of unmasked, very drunken, rowdy passengers who continued to drink even more from supplies of bottles and cans. And yes, there were even some who smoked in the cramped and overfull carriages. Lung cancer would be the least of health worries – for this is a time when Omicron is rampant and highly contagious.

Health, of course, doesn’t fall under the obvious purview of TfW. And it would seem too that safety does not either, given the cramped conditions on this “service” – and I use that word very loosely indeed.

The train then stood like that in the TfW-managed Shrewsbury station for an hour with everyone cooped in this truly awful situation with no announcements – because the train’s intercom system was broken.

If the image of a cattle truck comes to mind, then that would be accurate, I can report. For those who could manage to contort themselves to look out the window, they would have noticed some six TfW security staff and two uniformed police officers watching from the platform.

There was no attempt by TfW Security staff to board the train. They couldn’t anyway, for it was too full. Perhaps the security and police on duty would do well to brush up on Section 46 of the Railways Act of 2005, and Bylaws 4(1), 4(2), 5 and 6, the consumption of alcohol, what constitutes unacceptable behaviour, and powers of ejection or arrest.

Clearly, TfW feels itself exempt from the small matter of those Welsh Government emergency health measures that you and I and businesses up and down this nation have to worry about. It seems to bear no responsibility for Covid measures, so much so that it seems obviously culpable of neglect and dereliction of duty by putting passengers’ health and lives at unnecessary risk of the spread of coronavirus in its “services” – and again I apologise for the use of that that word.

There was one poor guard on the train who simply could not do his job in the circumstances or access the carriages.

The reason for the one-hour departure delay was apparently because of no available driver and an earlier Cambrian line train was ‘fouled’ and needing to be returned to Machynlleth for steam cleaning.

According to the guard on duty, this kind of incident apparently happens regularly on Friday and Saturday nights. The train service at weekends seems to suffer from a disproportionate gaggle of moist and garrulous revellers partying in Shrewsbury from Welshpool and Newtown.

TfW seems to lack any ability to plan and manage adequate rolling stock for timetables it provides for its “services” – my apologies again. Then again, those timetables would be more of a guide, given the delays that occur from such blatant mismanagement.

There’s an issue too when it comes to staffing and having too many unusable carriages stationed in the Machynlleth yard. And yes, I have nothing but the greatest respect for those hard-pressed staff who bear the brunt of public displeasure, simply because TfW couldn’t manage a model train set.

While new trains are introduced in Cardiff and Swansea commuter services, there’s an inadequate carriage provision for services to and from Aberystwyth. Two-carriage trains are the norm for a destination that has some 10,000 students, is a tourist attraction and a line that has more than its fair share of moist and garrulous revellers partying between Shrewsbury, Welshpool and Newtown.

To be fair, the moist and garrulous often plague the Aber end of the line too, but in the instance of this “service” – apologies – they were journeying to Welshpool and Newtown.

Perhaps someone from TfW might explain why we put up with shabby carriages with non-functioning announcement systems. There’s no ticket control and many passengers simply do not pay, knowing weekend evening trains will be overcrowded and understaffed.

Ticketing security at Shrewsbury itself ceases at 9pm and barriers are not manned after that hour. Perhaps they know only too well the mayhem that will ensue come 9:33pm?

Perhaps if TfW security staff had performed the basic functions of their employment and checked antisocial behaviour – it would too far a stretch to ask them to ask people to wear masks as it required by Welsh Government and UK Government mandate – there would be far less risk of trains being fouled and taken out of commission for steam cleaning at Machynlleth.

It is not as if I am asking for new trains to be delivered. No, pigs might indeed fly one day and that may happen. No, I and other users of this train service just want TfW to do its job... You know, run trains efficiently, cleanly, reliably, comfortably ... like TfW actually cares.

I am not naïve enough to suggest TfW can somehow control the behaviour of people in general. No. But TfW should be able to better control excess passenger numbers.

Or refuse to carry non-ticketed or drunk passengers on their trains. Or ensure a decent journey experience for others. Or is that too much to ask?

How much more insult can TfW inflict on the good people who use its poor “services”? And why won’t they apologise now?