Well, I took the train down to Bristol (and back). The route down was Nottingham -> Derby, then Derby -> Bristol Temple Meads. The route back was, unsurprisingly, the same.
The first leg of the four-part round-trip was excellent. The train left Nottingham on time. It was clean, warm, and about 50% full; finding somewhere to sit was no problem.
The second leg of the four-part round-trip, however, began sub-optimally and went rapidly downhill. The advertised train didn’t turn up. It didn’t turn up until just over half an hour after it should have left, that was the first problem. The cause of this first problem, the late arrival, was advertised as there being a lack of train drivers. Well gosh, if only there was such a thing as a train timetable which we could all plan a bunch of services around. The second issue was half of the eight-carriage train didn’t turn up at all. The third issue was that a lot of the people who had seats reserved, had seats that were reserved on the four missing carriages. There was standing room only and, frankly, even the standing room was limited. By the time the shortened train got to Bristol Temple Meads we were 50 minutes overdue. The four-carriage train was filled with tired, irritable people. We couldn’t even get refreshments because the trolley service couldn’t get through the carriages because of all the people standing. The train announcer apologised and said we could claim compensation for the late arrival. That was good information, but it hopelessly missed the point; we didn’t want compensation, we wanted a reliable service that adhered to the timetable and had sufficient seats.
Twenty-four hours passed.
The third leg of the four-part journey arrived at Bristol Temple Meads on time. However only four carriages were available once again! And it’ll come as no surprise to learn that a lot of the passengers had reserved seating on those four missing carriages. There was a lot of angry hurly-burly tossed between the many people who had reservations and the equally many people who didn’t have reservations but sat in reserved seats. There was standing room only. The carriage aisles were full, the spaces between the carriages were full. And once again the refreshment service couldn’t get through the over-full train. However this train arrived at Derby on time so there was that, but compensation wasn’t available to those who had to stand the whole journey because the train ran on time.
The fourth leg of the four-part journey left Derby and arrived in Nottingham on time. It was half-full, so seating was available. It was warm and comfortable.
This is no way to run a railway. I could have done the whole return trip in my car. I would have had a seat for the entire trip, and it would have been cheaper.
When I used to take the train into that London for work, it was a similar situation: trains often late or cancelled altogether and carriages crammed full of people.
I was lucky: where I got on was quite a way up the line, so I never had any issues getting a seat, but a couple of stops further toward London and it was standing room only. I used to feel sorry for those who had to stand for the entire journey, yet had paid almost the same priced ticket as me.
That was fifteen years ago. Doesn’t sound like the railways have improved any.
I would say that despite significant price increases, and improved payments to shareholders, things have worsened.