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Yes, my comments are sometimes deliberately provocative. It's motivated by a lifelong interest in railway operations, finding problems that really shouldn't happen, but having attempted solutions dismissed too readily, by those who claim that I don't understand all of the variables. Of course I...

Not sure of your point here, are you saying the situation is nonsense, or my comment? If the latter, then I don't think you should feel any need to be defensive. I'm despairing at the situation too, not the manner in which the rail companies handle it. There are many rail staff who work very...

Hmm, so you want me to provide suggestions in detail, whilst withholding most of the information that would be needed to provide those suggestions. Could be tricky. A calculated way to pre-determine that whatever I say is wrong even!

It's quite a nightmare running rail services with fare dodging and vandalism both being rife throughout the country. When the punishment for fare dodging is simply that you have to pay your fare, you have to wonder at the state our country is in. It's almost as crazy as granting yourself a...

I genuinely wish them well. Do you know if any part of this plan involves running through to Crewe?

Reading for XC trains is an obvious one. Running non stop via Solihull into Birmingham while the stopping train runs via Coventry is another. There are enough lines at Bristol TM and Taunton for much of the time if needed. The South Wales route shouldn't need overtaking, just a couple of fast...

I agree that ticket checks are getting less, but why? Does this have anything to do with union grievances over pay and conditions, such as staff having less care about collecting revenue for their employers?

An hourly service from the Cambrian Coast to Shrewsbury would offer great opportunities such as running through to Crewe with connections to London and elsewhere. However, the existing service which is largely two-hourly but with a couple of extra trains, has plenty of timekeeping trouble with...

That's exactly it, XC are cramming passengers from what used to be 12 coach trains, into 4 coaches. The lack of capacity simply underlines how poor the investment in these services has been. I blame both the rail companies and the Government for this. I suspect that some of the world's more...

You'll see from my comments above that I've mentioned overtaking opportunities. For the SMALL number of fast trains that I've suggested.

"Making everything run express"? I'm not sure how you translate my comments asking for one or two services to run faster per day, into "everything"! What comes to mind with my "shuffling about" comments, is several years of weekly trips between Southampton and Birmingham on XC, not so long ago...

Sorry, just that your post #102 suggested that it was all about cost. I think it would be worth at least trying out a couple of non stop services Newport, or at least to Bristol Parkway each day. I don't think Reading and Swindon would suffer unduly if that happened, especially since they...

I have to say I'm with @Wolfie on this. I used to cycle a fair bit between Shrewsbury and Stafford, sometimes via Wellington, and there really isn't much along the route that would justify the re-opening of a rail service, even if the land was still available.

We've discussed the Cornish route a fair bit in the context of London, but what about getting to Cornwall from the Midlands / Manchester / Yorkshire? it's well known that the M5 becomes gridlocked in several places on many days of the year due to holiday traffic, so you might think that XC...

The Cornish route isn't so bad, and all of your comments are understandable, although I do think that just a couple of trains a day stopping only once or twice between London and Plymouth would be useful. It's South Wales that deserves better, I'd like to see a couple of services each day that...

I don't see why this should be heresy on this forum, it's simple reality! I completely agree with your comments, it's the lack of Government interest in transport that's the really appalling thing. Rail staff at most levels are actually fully aware of wholesale fare dodging, yet at the same time...

Let's just say that there's quite a bit of room for improvement.

Why would you ask such an open question when you know that there is no all-embracing answer? Perhaps you could provide the criteria? Or maybe not, because you're fully aware that as soon as criteria are provided, exceptions can be found.

Maybe I was just unlucky having several trips with XC, boarding at Southampton (heading to Birmingham), occupying a seat until Reading where the train became crowded, and only then did the reservations flicker into action. Which then led to myself and others being turfed out of our seats by...

I think you, and others know, that the issues are many, with the number of stops being one of them. You're deliberately focusing on just one side of a multi faceted argument.