The train from London was only running 15 minutes late, and the ongoing train from Swindon was only 2 minutes behind its schedule.  Only problem is ... it was a connection at Swindon for which only 10 minutes was allowed and the Melksham train left before the express arrived.

I've heard this same story so MANY times from customers. According to the punctuality statistics, the train from London was probably not registered as being late - the the time it reaches Swansea or Weston or Taunton, with a health dose of "recovery time" in the schedule, it shows up as 100%. And the Swindon to Southampton was certainly on time.

But the customer who was relying on the missed connection has now got to wait at Swindon from 9 O'clock until nearly half past two for the next train.  OK - let's be fair; there may be taxis available, or he could get a train to Chippenham and a bus or taxi from there.  If we're able to, we've been know to drive to Chippenham to collect a course delegate who feels he's got off to a really bad start; since we suggested he travel to us by train, he might be blaming us for a bad idea.

When First write that they're planning to slow some schedules down and to re-organise some of the less express trains to give a more robust and an overall faster journey time, I give the comment a very cautious welcome.

I would be quite happy to see the 10 minute official connection at Swindon extended to 15 minutes, and a few extra minutes of recovery time added in to the schedule of the TransWilts train off Swindon to ensure that it can keep to time even if it's 10 minutes late "off".

I would be quite happy to see the TransWilts travelling up to Swidon run just a few minutes behind the express from Bristol ... and that would put it into Swindon without delaying the next one, and ahead of the South Wales train with which it could connect.

Two ways of providing a much more reliable service at the expense of a slight extension to the journey time.  If this is the sort of thing First are heading towards and what they're meaning in their comments, I applaud them.  But if they suggest that a capacity limit means that they can't run more than 2 trains a day up to Swindon from the line from Westbury - sorry - I would smell a smokescreen. The limit on the express lines is inward from Reading with the Worcester, Gloucster and South West trains added in to the South Wales and Bristol services that run into Swindon from Wootton Basset.

My customers, coming from London this morning, chose not to risk the connection to Melksham because "we know how often the main line is delayed and we didn't want to be left stranded until lunchtime".  So they got the train to Chippenham and got a taxi ...

So - they would have used the Melksham train if either

1. The service was more frequent OR
2. The service had a better connection timing OR
3. The mainline train had a better reputation for timekeeping.