Of course the document reffered to in the title didnt help.

Christian Wolmar - "The spectre of cuts by stealth is stalking the railway" (link below.)
http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/articles/rail/516.shtml

"The other way in which information about cuts will dribble out is through the Route Utilisation Studies, originally produced by the Strategic Rail Authority but now the province of Network Rail."

Here are just a few of the gems contained within the Great Western Main Line Route Utilisation Strategy (link below.)
http://www.sra.gov.uk/pubs2/stratpolplan/GWMLRUS/GWRUS.pdf

"Growth in freight traffic is forecast and potential competition for capacity between passenger and freight may develop, particularly on the Reading – Oxford corridor. The strategy assesses the extent to which freight growth can be accommodated on the existing network in the period up until 2012."

"A new pattern of service across Bristol, with trains to Bristol from Worcester and Gloucester being amalgamated with trains to Weston-super-Mare and Taunton, and trains to Bristol from Cardiff being amalgamated with trains to Westbury, Weymouth and Southampton. This pattern will not only provide new through journey opportunities, but also improve performance by relieving the congestion caused at Bristol Temple Meads by a multiplicity of terminating trains."

The above document led to the withdrawal of the Southampton - Swindon & West Country - Cardff services & the conclusion reached below in the same document :

Aspiration - Melksham station re-location.

Current position - Needs initial business case work undertaking by stakeholders.

Current SRA view - Case needs to be proved in value for money terms.

It also killed off Corsham station :

Aspiration - Corsham.

Current position - Scheme design and development was previously undertaken. The business case for the station is currently poor due to cost escalation as a result of unforeseen ground conditions and the withdrawal of the Oxford – Bristol trains which were to have provided the service.

Current SRA view - Unlikely to proceed at the present time.

Aspiration - Re-introduction of through services between Oxford and Bristol.

Current SRA view - Services were withdrawn in 2003 due to low levels of demand and to improve performance on the heavily utilised routes over which they operated. No justification has been found to warrant reversal of that decision.

The SRA also misjudged the level of future demand for freight.

Aspiration - Southampton – West Coast Main Line freight gauge enhancement for 9’6” containers conveyed on conventional wagons.

Current SRA view - Scheme development and value management has been undertaken by the SRA and Network Rail. Economic appraisal has shown that a business case exists for the proposal. Funding for implementation is not currently available.

Aspiration - Additional capacity for freight traffic between Southampton and the West Midlands

Current SRA view - Considered in the RUS initial appraisal. Analysis indicates that forecast demand is likely to be accommodated within unused existing freight capacity until the end of the RUS period. If further freight capacity is required, the provision of evening or overnight paths should be considered with any re-allocation of capacity being appraised in accordance with the SRA Appraisal Criteria.

In fact , Southampton – West Coast Main Line freight gauge enhancement is the Rail Freight Group's top priority. An example of how badly the SRA underestimated the likely growth in freight traffic from Southampton Docks can be found in the link below.
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=286.msg773#msg773

"But rather than let the market switch to road, and then try to have to win it back off the road hauliers when and if gauge enhancement work on the Southampton routes is complete, Freightliner’s approach has been to invest in fleets of ‘lowliner’ wagons, which overcome the height restriction by carrying the container in a well between the axles. This is obviously at the expense of a reduced number of boxes per train, although to some extent this is being mitigated by newer versions of lowliners that are 48’ rather than 50’ long. “We’ve just added another 80 lowliners to our fleet,” Keith explains. “There is a whole series of routes that will benefit not only Southampton, but also Thamesport (a relatively new port on the Isle of Grain branch in North Kent) as well as the East Coast Main Line route. That way, even though it cannot be seen as the complete solution to gauge clearance, at least we are making sure we are continuing to cover part of the market need.” "

DfT Railfreight Link.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_freight/documents/page/dft_freight_503891-07.hcsp

Quote from the above link :

"'Pocket' wagon for 9'6" containers.
 
Freightliner Ltd.
 
Freightliner have introduced 77 new 'pocket' wagons to their operation of which 40 were purchased with the assistance of a Freight Facilities Grant of £634,000.

Benefits.

Larger containers can be rail-hauled within the existing loading gauge.
Heavier containers are readily used by road vehicles for connections to railheads."

The major benefit of Southampton – West Coast Main Line freight gauge enhancement would be that larger containers could be conveyed on conventional wagon trains , which can take more containers per train than ‘lowliner’ wagon trains. This would lead to less demand for extra trains in the future on the Southampton - Reading - Basingstoke - West Midlands - West Coast Main Line route and also would lessen the need for intermodal freight trains to run via Melksham.

This is because without freight gauge enhancement , full capacity will be reached in the near future on the main Southampton - West Coast Main Line  , and the extra trains required to satisfy future freight demand would have to be found an alternative route.

The number one diversionary route for these trains is via Melksham.

In effect , the DfT's preference for ‘lowliner’ wagon subsidy over proper infrastructure investment has killed off the Swindon - Southampton service , and threatens to do the same to several others.

Here is a relevant quote from a recent speech by Derek Twigg (link below.)
http://www.aslef.org.uk/C2B/PressOffice/display.asp?ID=420&Type=2

"In addition, we need to assess the role of passengers and how their interests will develop – and we need to balance their interests with those of freight."

It is at this point that I would like to pay tribute to those who have structured the Bristol/Swindon - Southampton service up until now. The current timetable is a masterclass in the RIGHT way of doing what Derek Twigg envisaged (links below.)
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Documents/Custom/Timetables/Table%205%20to%20Brighton.pdf
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Documents/Custom/Timetables/Table%205%20from%20Brighton.pdf

Lets take the Southampton - Westbury section first :

In the cases of both the Great Western Main Line Route Utilisation Strategy & the Bristol/Bath to South Coast Study , the advice given by the SRA was that intermodal freight trains would not be routed via Southampton - Salisbury - Westbury - Melksham - Swindon - Didcot - West Midlands. Therefore , the timetable planners felt confident enough to time local trains on this section with a view to potential growth (ie when passenger demand was likely to be higher.)

Unfortunately , this policy has failed because the Dean & Dunbridge passenger figures have failed to grow. The "Dean & Dunbridge" problem stretches back to BR days when both stations had a regular interval service. BR then cut this to an irregular service pattern when they realised that hardly anyone was using the trains.

Virtually nothing has changed since then and it wont do unless a way is found to get passengers from the Dean & Dunbridge wider areas to the stations and onto the trains (click on http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=470.msg1377#msg1377 for an example of how this could be acheived.) Unless this is done , then any form of "shuttle" service will always require heavy subsidy and will take up double the line capacity of an express passenger or intermodal freight train.

There are two ways in which the "Dean & Dunbridge" problem could be positively resolved.

1) Stops at both stations , plus Dilton Marsh , could be provided in the Portsmouth - Cardiff service. Provision for this is made in SLC2.

2) The Swindon - Southampton service could be restored (preferably with a 2-hourly , clock -face pattern) , which would allow growth on the northern section to pull the southern section , and thus the whole service , out of subsidy and into profit. Click on the link below for further details on these proposals.
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=410.msg1215#msg1215

Now lets take the Swindon - Westbury section :

A different but equally effective approach has been taken here. The current timetable is based around the needs of freight , because the planners had the foresight to realise that stone traffic from the Mendip Quarries was likely to grow , and made provision for the extra freight train paths that were likely to be required , between 0930 - 1330 & 1830 & 2130. They then scheduled passenger train services in at other times and hoped for the best.

The best turned out better than they thought (link below.)
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/stats.html

Graham explains the Swindon - Southampton train service success story in the link below.
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/open.html

"The current train service has grown dramatically, in spite of a fearsome reputation for frequent cancellation (and that continues under First, with 4% of services not running in the last 3 weeks prior to this report being written), and replacement of trains by buses for engineering works (at least some trains have been replaced buses on the majority of weekends over the past year). Publicity for the service has been almost non-existent, even at Swindon and Chippenham stations where it was a "guest" service, and connections have been problematic when main line trains run late."

"Why has it been so successful in spite of the dreadful service? Alternative "end to end" services for the line involve a dogleg journey via Bath, with an awkward change and a very large number of steps. Some recommendations from national web sites even route passengers from Salisbury to Swindon via Basingstoke and Reading. Interchange from train to Bus at Chippenham adds 50 minutes to the journey time, with the bus not serving the station and a long walk or extra connection involved. And many of the passengers using the service are "core" users who do not have access to their own transport and who can't be easily displaced. The "choice" and "leisure" markets remain largely untapped."

Although the DfT are largely responsible for the demise of the Swindon - Southampton service , First must take their fair share of the blame for giving it a good kicking as it awaits its fate (link below.)
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=424.msg1249#msg1249

"Interchange from train to Bus at Chippenham adds 50 minutes to the journey time, with the bus not serving the station and a long walk or extra connection involved."

They have just removed one of the main benefits of the Melksham train service.