Transport for Wales and the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay is running the Cambrian Coast Line ‘into the ground’.

That’s the stinging broadside fired at the Welsh transport agency from Mabon ap Gwynfor MS, reacting to a Cambrian News special investigation that regular commuter services on the line were cancelled by TfW to profit from a luxury operator to run its tourist service instead.

“The continuing failures and neglect of mid Wales by this Labour Government is symbolic of how they feel about mid and north Wales,” Mr ap Gwynfor told Cambrian News.

“Public transport in Wales has been run into the ground this century but here in Gwynedd and Montgomeryshire we really are the poor relations.

“The norm here, is that passengers can expect delays, cancellations and timetable cuts, so much so that getting the bare minimum service comes as a pleasant surprise to many passengers. That is just not good enough.”

Last week, Cambrian News reported that passengers who travel on the 16:28 from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth on a Tuesday noticed it being repeatedly cancelled. Instead, the Britannic Explorer, costing from £6,300-15,000 a cabin, took its place on the line, with cancellations also affecting service on the Cambrian Coast Line from Dyfi Junction north to Pwllheli.

Cancellations have occurred at least seven times, but on the first four occasions the brand-new sleeper train failed to show up, leaving trainspotters disappointed and those trying to get home furious.

Transport for Wales (TfW) instead offered their passengers a rail replacement bus, taking an hour longer and missing connections onwards.

It’s that profit-before-people attitude by TfW that has the MS fuming.

“So many people rely on trains to get to work, schools, universities and hospital appointments and this service is just making people’s lives worse,” he told Cambrian News.

“When proposals were put forward to cut services on the Cambrian Coast Line, they said that they would cut in the winter but increase the number of trains during the summer to cope with tourist numbers.

“Visitors are important but people live on these lines and here we have another example of a Welsh Labour run body deciding the people who live in mid Wales are just not important.

With TfW investing millions in a new signalling system on the Cambrian Coast Line to accommodate new trains schedule for service in September, train users are left wondering why the new advanced signals can’t cope with the extra tourist train along with regular services.

When those new trains do come into service on the Cambrian Coast Line, they will have fewer seats, less room for luggage and are the same model used for short, crowded commuter journeys in south Wales and the Borders region – unsuited to the longer journeys in rural Wales.

“The fact is that Welsh Labour just do not care about rural Wales,” the MS said.

The Britannic Explorer Wales tour was originally scheduled to make 25 trips in18 months, exploring Pembrokeshire, Llandrindod Wells, Porthmadog, Barmouth Bridge, and Machynlleth from London.