TfW Rail Limited Board Minutes - 4 February 2022

4 February 2022

09:00 - 14:00

Venue: Llys Cadwyn

James Price (Chair); Jan Chaudhry; Heather Clash; Alexia Course; Marie Daly; and Peter Strachan.

In attendance: David O’Leary and Jeremy Morgan.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

None

A quorum being present, the Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and declared the meeting open.

None declared.

Cracks were discovered on a Class 170 yaw damper bracket during scheduled exam at Canton. Further checks found similar cracks on all three-car units in the depot. After technical assessment, including assistance from an independent consultancy (TESCO), it was determined that the issue was unlikely to cause complete detachment. A monitoring regime was put in as well as corresponding with TOCs using the same units. Porterbrook was aware of the issue and inquiries have been as to whether TOCs should have been provided with this information.

British Transport Police and TfW have developed a ‘safe place’ at Cardiff Central station. The area is a safe environment for anyone who needs help or feels vulnerable. The facility provides a safe place for BTP’s neighbourhood policing team to speak to anyone having safeguarding or welfare concerns, allowing officers to conduct enquiries with relatives or partner agencies without having to take people to a police station.

A thank you letter was issued to staff involved in closing out the ORR PTI improvement notice. Those who received the letter were appreciative of fact that the Board acknowledged the work done.

The minutes of the TfW Rail Board meeting 7 January 2022 were approved as a true and accurate record.

The Actions log was noted.

The first three weeks of period 10 saw growing numbers of traincrew-related cancellations as Omicron impacted drivers, conductors and other staff. The timetable was stepped down twice, with the second step down on 3 January providing the necessary train service stability. This led to much improved performance in the final week of the period, and in the weeks since, particularly cancellations.

Passenger revenue contracted significantly to 45% of the pre-Covid position. REDACTED.

All relevant directors now attend a company-wide resource planning governance meeting on Tuesdays of week 2. Using new driver and conductor modelling tools, the meeting checks for early warning of establishment shortages, verifies that recruitment is occurring at the correct depots at the correct volumes, ensures planning for transformation training as well as future enhanced timetables, and manages associated risks.

The Board were informed that the 5% absence levels is too high, with the next Extended Leadership Team to consider reducing sickness absence as its main theme.

AIW report that work on repairing the Adam Street Bridge in central Cardiff is progressing. The Board were reminded about the importance of that this repair being finished on time to enable the May-22 timetable restoring the normal pattern of CVL services, and an end to the use of platform 7 at Cardiff Central as a terminating point for Radyr and Treherbert services.

REDACTED

A draft Welsh language internal audit report has been drafted providing reasonable assurance. There is an acknowledgement that risks remain with ongoing Welsh Language Commissioner investigations around non-compliant PIS and App/Website data feeds. A revised application to the Welsh Language Commissioner is being prepared requesting an extension of compliance dates across a number of areas: TVMs, PIS, Live Information feeds and Intranet. The Board request a response to the Internal Audit from Lee Robinson [Action Lee Robinson].  

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The Board discussed the need to secure access rights from Network Rail on the CVL network for four trains per hour.

The Board noted the Safety Assurance Report.

Stephanie Raymond joined the meeting.

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The Board noted the management accounts for Rail Period 10.

The Board were presented with budget for 2022/23. REDACTED.

The Board approved the draft budget for 2022/23.

The commercial position is improving and moving towards recovery from the impact of Omicron. The slight increase in ticketless travel will require a renewed focus to help better protect revenue across the network. There was strong yield up to December 2021, but this has weekended over the last few periods mainly due to a reduction in the use of long-distance services. Cost of sale has also increased in the last period, likely driven by a short-term reduction in smart-ticketing from moving to the new app and covid restrictions.

REDACTED. The increase in passenger revenue is predominantly driven by three factors; the continued recovery of demand as COVID-19 societal restrictions ease, the year-on-year improvements in ticketless travel during the first half of FY2023 and the anticipated revenue generated through marketing activity.

The Board emphasized the need for a high-impact, effective and targeted recovery campaigns. The Board were informed the Welsh Government had not yet given approval for launching the planned recovery campaign. The Board were concerned that this would be too late [Action - James Price to discuss start date of recovery campaign with Welsh Government].

The Board discussed the potential for more actively promote TfW’s app and were informed that further developments are expected in May/June this year. 

The Board were informed that the Welsh Government had recently agreed an RPI +0% fare increase from March this year, 1% lower than expected.

The Board discussed the new and cascaded rolling stock programmes which have seen several challenges and delays over the last few months which if not addressed could impact the number of trains available and therefore service delivery. The Board were presented with several rolling stock mitigating options to provide a resilient fleet and ensure that service commitments are met, and adequate capacity is provided. REDACTED.

The Board also agreed to a number of actions [Action Alexia Course and Andrew Gainsbury] around the additional Mark 4 rake:

REDACTED

The Chair thanked all members and attendees for their contributions.