Does the 'halt' service include the 06.53/07.01 we're discussing? I think its going to struggle in its current format. Based on the totally unscientific basis of a couple of people I work with more people on the Oxford to Reading part of the journey are using it rather than change at Reading. For them its a much more comfortable journey and they get a seat. It also seems to be getting much busier at Twyford since I've been using it.

You could move the Henley connection back a few minutes so they get the next fast train although I can see that being unpopular as its slightly slower and 10 minutes later.

It's been a good run but only 3 coaches today which made it all a bit unpleasant. It's also been 5 coaches a lot more frequently. Hopefully this isn't related to the Turbos cascade and challenges around maintenance or spares.

It did manage to be its regular 4-5 mins late though.

I think the most generous thing i can say about most of the papers from the Adam Smith Institute is that they stimulate debate.

Do you have any more details on who that was? I certainly saw myself as a potential customer especially as I don't drive but my experience was over whelming poor such that I haven't tried it since

I thought it was a good campaign in itself as it made me think about trips out and visits to places I wouldn't normally. I really did think about some trips to the West Country which I don't normally. However, my experience of travelling on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to West Wales at the weekend meant I soon decided not to bother.

As Timmer writes it was a reasonable as campaign promoting a totally unsuitable and inadequate service. All the campaign really did was draw attention to how poor the weekend service was. I wonder how many potential customers were lost because of it - tried it and had a miserable day out?

Back down to 5% discount for Thames Valley. Seems a poor deal for the traveller considering how bad the service has been over the last year.

If I was ever on the programme Room 101 then this along with people sitting on the outside seat on a packed service would be on my list. Its the sighing and huffing when you ask the to move themselves or their belonging that really winds me up.

I suspect though I'm nothing like as tolerant as I use to be.

There's still been general annoyances like short formed turbos and IETS along with the usual 5-10 minute delay but they don't seem worth posting.

Have things improved? A bit but I've been sticking to a couple of regular trains that generally run if over crowded. I've also started working from home more as the commute just depresses me. So there is an improvement but my confidence in the service remains low.

I think most posters here accept that many issues are outside of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) control but they don't do very well on the ones are.

The website, provision of information, incident management...

Beginners question but are these Electric/Bi-bode/diesel and will my regular turbo from Oxford now have a few more seats?

I'm now working all day but I hope you have a good session.

I'm a regular commuter in the Thames Valley and I would say that my general experience has been very poor. Frequent signal failures, half length trains, poor punctuality - my morning train is consistently 5-10 mins late except when its half size and i can't board.

While not all of this can be attributed to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) its their response or lack of response to incidents that frustrates me. The website is frequently inaccurate, rarely updated outside of 'office hours' and generally claims a good service when there very clearly isn't. Today's bad weather saw the website unavailable for a lot of users which often happens when there's poor weather or an incident. Capacity planning for key information resource (and I'm aware of the irony) isn't difficult nowadays. The staff at Paddington appear to have standing instructions to leave the station concourse in the event of an incident. I think most passengers are understanding that things go wrong but its the lack of information or more generally the wrong information that makes it worse.

The local ticket office (Twyford) is rarely open the advertised hours due to 'staff shortages'. This can be challenging when you need to renew a season ticket, replace a faulty one (why are smartcards only just appearing in very limited form?), or claim the void days they don't tell you about. Most of their data seems to exist in folders and bits of paper locally and so far as I can tell don't have an integrated database across the region. There is so much more they could be doing with technology.

Why no delay/repay?

Don't mind the seats on the new trains although I seem to be in a minority. However, I rarely travel on them as due to the cuts to the electrification programme my regular trains are still turbos and look like remaining for some time. Not one we can pin on GWR although their advertising around with the Famous Five and similar seemed very inappropriate when they're failing to run a significant number of trains at weekends.

On the plus I've found their online team much improved recently (I think it came back in house) and generally good at solving my queries.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Web site appears to be struggling as well although when I checked at 5.30 this morning there were already lots of cancelled trains.

As someone who commutes from Twyford I never thought I'd be arguing to keep GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) but Crossrail is looking more and more of a backward step for those commuting from further out.

I'd raise it with my MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) but apparently she's busy... 

My ticket despite the 5% or 10% has nearly always cost me more. I wished I was better at maths to understand why.