ATOC» at it's best!
In this day of Internet Enquires and Bookings I just don't see how the
TOC▸ 's are taken by surprise on Passenger loadings.
His Lordship "Lord Grahame of Melksham" is very capable of producing Facts and Figures about the Great Western Passengers' Forum, from simple data gathered.
From the various data bases that are used for train enquires and booking ticket's it must be possible to examine and down load tends that are occuring.
i.e. If it's found that an average of 4000 travel enquires are made about travel from Bristol Temple Meads to London for an Average Sunday, but this has increased to 10000 for Sunday 3rd June (on information gathered 2 weeks in advance) and Pre Booked Tickets sales are 100% above the Average then it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to said "it's elemenary my dear Watson that the trains are going to be BUSY on Sunday 3rd June"
Of course external problems like fog on Motorways, or unplanned road closures etc can cause sudden blips in passenger flows but advertised Events should be mananged!