Not sure how widespread this is as an issue - some 10 carriage IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) are operating lately with four first class carriages out of the ten - this seems rather excessive given that relatively few people travel first class, and most first class carriages seem to run empty a lot of the time. Given that standard class carriages are very packed, this is perverse and quite annoying. Any reason why GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) should run 10 carriage fleets with four first class, other than they've run out of standard class?

Service this morning was five carriage unit London to Bristol with two first class out of five - just bizarre. Is their nothing in the railway regulations to allow people to use first class if the train companies cant supply the appropriate ratio of standard class to first?

Would love to know what other passengers experience of the new Hitachi Bristol - London trains has been. Feedback from what I have heard generally has been on the whole pretty negative. Uncomfortably hard seats, trains suffering continual breakdowns / faults / running as five car units instead of ten. General feeling from what I've heard - they are not a patch on the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) which are still running some services. Don't think the design is a terribly good idea - two five car units with four engines - whilst this might seem a good idea initially, it has created many problems - it requires twice the number of staff to run the train, as it is effectively two trains coupled together. It also means you cant walk through the whole train from end to end, so if one half is packed, you can't move to the other half. Anyone know what the thinking was behind the choice of this train design rather than one ten carriage train with two more powerful engines one on each end like the HSTs. In some cases, trains have had to be run as five car units due to staff shortages / breakdowns. Are there currently ongoing campaigns to persuade Network Rail / government / GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to rethink the train design and seating?