Transport for Wales Chief Executive James Price says he wants ‘political and social pressure’ applied to train manufacturers because the financial penalties in contracts do not produce all the desired results.
He told a Senedd committee in January that TfW was still: ‘experiencing delays from our manufacturers, both Stadler and CAF, and it’s important to both work in partnership with them and to hold them to account in every way possible.’ He recently met the chief executive of CAF in Spain ‘to push them further on making decisions.’
Availability of the operational CAF Class 197s left TfW roughly four units short a day, resulting in occasional short-forming, he said. ‘It’s an area we’re very focused on. It’s an area, though, that we ourselves cannot sort, and we need CAF to come to the table.
‘In essence, what I need to do is to get CAF, which is a very competent international rolling stock provider, to provide rolling stock in Wales to the same level of excellence it provides in its best plants a…
2025