I live in Maesteg and whilst this train can be busy it's not too bad as by the time it gets to Bridgend (30 minutes into the hours journey) most of the passengers have left it. However, the trains, delays and cancellations we have to put up with on this line are not acceptable.

M Jones, Maesteg, Wales

"FGW dropped one of its peak services. . . . . to cut costs"?

The wonderful, thrusting, privatised railway at its best again!

Demand for rail travel has boomed in the last 10 years and privatisation is often to be heard to taking the credit. How can this be in the light of so many chronicles of ineptitude such as that described above? It seems much more likely that growth in demand has happened IN SPITE of privatisation, not because of it. Growth which was occurring anyway, for other reasons, and which if anything privatisation has impeded. British Rail in its last few years had lifted its game considerably and was bearing some real fruit before privatisation chopped it down. We are left to speculate as to how much better-off Britain might now be had its national rail entity not been foolishly destroyed.

Dave, Wellington, New Zealand