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This is all internal operational trivia. What other industry responds to its customers in this manner?

Probably best to drive next time. As a paying passenger, you are nothing more than a nuisance. The railway doesn't want your custom. So don't give it them.

It would help if passengers could spread themselves out a bit. All those people crowding into Euston on a Friday afternoon, when there are trains carting fresh air in the Highlands, are hardly helping matters.

I'll often pop in there when I'm changing at Crewe. I really don't see the problem with the place - it's fine as it is.

Accepted, but if no-one in authority is policing those rights on behalf of passengers, then in practice the rights do not exist.

An alternative view - operator-specific tickets are cheaper because they come with greater risk. If the customer had purchased an open ticket then the issue would not have arisen. In other words, you pays your money and you takes your chances.

Related to this disruption, one of the rail replacement buses clipped the low bridge at Albrighton station on Friday, as reported in the Shropshire Star.

Maybe "Super happy fun bus"? I doubt that the name is a major reason for negative passenger attitudes.

As far as I am concerned, the handful of direct trains was an irrelevance. Work colleagues going to London continued to drive to Stafford or Warwick Parkway. The slow crawl to Wolves, and then onto Coventry, was not attractive.

Alternatively, if these passengers had bought open tickets, then there wouldn't be an issue. You pay less for operator-specific tickets because these products come with greater risk.

Is it really? A much more vocal theme on this forum is that we could reach railway nirvana if only we privatised everything. Witness the barely disguised glee every time something goes wrong at TfW. But nationalisation doesn't have to equal micro-management plus austerity. Other models are...

It will be quicker to drive. (As well as cheaper, more comfortable and door-to-door)

If it's been a problem for 35 years, then not complaining is clearly not working.

I do sympathise. As a frequent commuter by TfW, rail journeys are generally the most unpleasant part of my day. But as a thought experiment, let's assume that TfW somehow magically got an incentive to improve reliability. What realistically could they do to improve things?

I've never claimed. I know it's irrational, but I can't shake off the idea that claiming Delay Repay is scrounging.

Knighton? The nearest station is in Shropshire.

Switching this round, I'm not sure that the railway could cope if many of these drivers switched from road to rail. Can you imagine another million passenger journeys on Cross Country? It would be carnage.

Or you could forget the railway and drive instead. Cheaper, faster, more flexible and you don't have to put up with other passengers who haven't washed or will not shut up. It's what most people do, after all.

Looking at my January 1984 WMPTE booklet, it looks like the 9 (Birmingham-Stourbridge) has hardly changed in route or frequency since before deregulation. Route - A slight rejigging in Birmingham city centre: it used to operate along New Street and Victoria Square, which of course it can no...

Controversial opinion: the current trend to blame everything on DfT micromanagement is a convenient and comforting excuse. The railway lacks strategic leadership, and has done so for decades.