I fear rammed Transport for Wales Birmingham trains are a danger to life and I hate being squashed

Tim Gill, who lives in South Shropshire, urged Transport for Wales (TfW) to have a risk assessment in place for when trains are “jam-packed” having suffered a bad experience heading home from Birmingham.

While TfW’s stakeholder manager Nichole Sarra provided Ludlow Town Council members with key updates that have happened on the Marches Line that goes through Shropshire, a public meeting heard other air their complaints.

Despite Class 197 and MarkVIs are now running as part of an £800m investment in the company’s fleet, which Councillor Stacey Harris complimented, Councillor Tim Gill was less happy.

He told Ms Sarra that he was recently on a “jam packed” train coming back from Birmingham.

“You say to me, ‘would you rather have no service?’ And I say to you, ‘where’s the risk assessment on that?’

“It was the same sized train as ever and it was absolutely rammed. I’m afraid there has to be a risk assessment that says what’s acceptable.

“There’s a point when you don’t push more people in. Quite frankly I don’t have a great deal of confidence in the service. It’s constantly jammed.

“I resent paying for a seat that I don’t and being squashed against people I don’t want to be squashed next to. It’s the same, small train.

“Don’t you look to see what is going on in Birmingham and think it might be better to put a bigger train on?

“At what point do you say, the potential danger of life to those people in there and jam them all in?”

In response, Ms Sarra said she was sorry that Cllr Gill didn’t have a good experience on his journey.

“The challenge is, while the conductors can advise to passengers that it’s full and standing, there’s only so much they can do to stop people getting on the service,” she said.

“It is something that has been raised and I will feed that back.”