TRAINS between Hereford and Manchester have been labelled as bad as India's with services regularly overcrowded.

Tim Lowe, a trustee for Hereford-based cancer charity Little Princess Trust, said Transport for Wales (TfW) "must rank as the worse of all the railway companies".

The company, which operates the Wales and Borders routes including between South Wales and Manchester via Hereford, said he travels regularly travels down to the city – but with how poorly it's run, he's worried the county could be missing out on vital trade.

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Mr Lowe, who lives near Stockport, said the services were "appalling" and, in a letter to TfW chief executive James Price, he said he struggled to remember when his trains in and out of Hereford on the Marches line were both on time.

One journey, in particular, was "poor, even by previous low standards", and his daughter said Indian railways are "far superior".

After leaving Hereford an hour late, the packed two-carriage train left an 80-year-old member of his party stressed about finding a seat.

But when approaching Crewe, the train abruptly ended there.

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The letter said: "Your staff are in urgent need of training. Given the poor service offered it is inevitable that they will have to deal with dissatisfied customers. Even an apology would be a start."

Mr Lowe said the train from Crewe to Manchester was "so full that it could not take on any more passengers" with people "rammed in".

"Two carriages on an inter-city Cardiff to Manchester is a joke," he said, adding that someone he invited to a day at the races in Hereford refused because of the TfW service.

He added: "This is trade lost to the county."

His daughter Emily said one of her worst experiences was getting on a packed train at Hereford and having to get off 20 minutes later at Leominster because she couldn't face standing all the way to Manchester.

The return journey to Hereford was as bad and she said there were no seats and "so many people rammed on the train it was impossible to get onto a carriage".

"I have travelled on the much-maligned Indian railways but I promised that they are far superior to Transport for Wales," she said.

"This is not a one-off bad weekend. My last Hereford to Manchester train terminated at Crewe with no help as to how to reach the destination."

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Transport for Wales said it knows the South Wales to Manchester route needs more capacity and it was working towards it.

Chief operations officer Jan Chaudhry-Van der Velde said that from December, the firm will be introducing more "premium" intercity trains which include first-class carriages, free Wi-Fi, a buffet car, accessible toilets and baby changing facilities. There will also be wheelchair and priority seating available.

By May 2023, she said those intercity trains will have a further carriage added, making five.

"Together with the introduction of our brand new Class 197 trains, which are now beginning to enter passenger service, this will provide a significant increase in capacity on the Marches Line route and a premium service between South Wales and Manchester every two hours," she said.

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