Firstly let me introduce myself.  I have lived in Portugal for nearly four years with my wife and use the train service here regularly.  When I lived in England I travelled daily from Surbiton to the City when there were thirteen trains an hour at peak times.  It is not the same now from what I understand.  Now, when I am in England, normally three or four times a year, I visit my brother in Weymouth and friends in Melksham and use the Weymouth –Trowbridge – Melksham line to travel between the two.  I prefer to use train from Melksham as the alternative is a £12 or so taxi fare (I have found the bus service very unreliable).  My point in posting this comment follows on from a point made here before concerning passenger numbers.

In June of this year a new timetable was introduced on the line between Faro and Vila Real de Santo António, a distance of 57 kilometres and the line I use regularly.  This resulted in an improved service with trains at the same minutes past each hour (albeit every one or two hours) and trains stopping at every station.  Previously the smaller stations were only served by two or three trains a day and the service was very irregular.  The village I live in has a population of about 2,000 with eleven stopping trains daily in each direction.  Since June there does appear to have been an increase in the number of passengers, especially at those smaller stations which did not have a regular service, I assume because the service is more reliable.  People are far more likely to travel to one of the bigger towns when there is not a four or five hour wait for a return service.  Journeys that would not have been made before become feasible.

I appreciate that this is slightly off topic so far as Melksham is concerned and that it is only from a general observation. However, perhaps it does show that an improved service probably does generate passenger numbers and therefore revenue.  By cutting the service regular rail users will look for alternatives resulting in fewer passengers and lost revenue.  The next step is then presumably closure.  Of course, this may be the hidden agenda for many of the smaller lines in England.

I do not know the politics behind the running of the railways here.  I do know that the passenger counts for something.  For example, connecting services are what they say, the train from Faro waits for the arrival of the train from Lisbon (four a day, each way) and vice versa.  The booking office is normally checked to ensure that all passengers have embarked.  There are also very few cancellations, I have been affected once by a train not running.  I do not think that the same applies in England.

I know that this does not help your case specifically, and I apologise for taking up your time, but I do hope that it does something to highlight the fact a railway will not be profitable without running trains, something that the British train operators do not seem to understand. 

RichardB