One of our customers this week flew into Bristol on Friday night and spend the weekend in the Bristol and South Wales areas ... before coming over to Melksham by train on Sunday.    He was telling me of a journey from Bristol to Cardiff where the train turned out to be a "single coach train" - presumably a 153 unit - which was grossly overcrowded and had to leave a lot of people behind ... people swearing they would never rely on the train again, looking to get taxis, etc.

There are times that trains get cancelled, where there are operational requirements that cause shortening, etc ... and I've always looked with sympathy for the operators in the past.   However, this sort of thing / report seems to be coming something of a norm and I have to wonder if it's rather more than just bad luck - it crosses my mind that we've moved from an occasional problem to problems of this sort being routine.   Heaven help us when lots of trains are taken away in December and service frequencies cut.

My customer arrived in to Melksham on Sunday evening by the train up from Trowbridge - that's one of the two our of six trains that WILL survive on Sunday after 9th December.   I've been scratching my head as to why on earth the new Sunday service is two evening trains from Westbury to Swindon - no daytime trains, nothing in the other direction. I don't see this as being the best time to sell travel on the line.   Sure enough, he tells me that the train was virtually empty.

Present madness, future madness.   Perhaps some points and questions for Andrew Seedhouse, representing the DfT at the Trowbridge meeting at 7 pm tonight!