Welllll ... usually but it wasn't this morning.   Quick connection at Jelenice and train manager assured me it would wait ... but it didn't. Basically kills day's plan - going somewhere else now.   Ah - the frustration of a service that only runs every 2 or 3 hours and then this happens!

 
I haven't travelled much overseas recently (well not at all...) but is the provision of information better when things go wrong?

My last couple of trips West Wales to South East England all had issues but it was the lack of information that frustrated me most.

 

Yet, completely Political decision. Get it right & it will still pull passengers, regardless

 

The thread asks the question "why are these people travelling by train" and goes on to muse as to whether / why we might be missing such passengers [in the UK].

I have - on last year's trip and on this years' - hit capacity issues; they are not unique to the UK.  The matter of whether such travellers / metrics could more usefully travel by train in the UK is at the heart of the question - the metrics of how the systems could or should support it are a necessary corollary, and that is where provision policy and strategy come into play. 

In my view, the moving of TOCs from private contractors to public operators is something of a side issue - no matter who runs and specifies the thing - and the wider environment around it too, the result depends on providing what people want and will use, and having them know about it and feel and be comfortable using it.

 

And stop introducing NEW capacity pinch points, such as new and often shorter trains. And ignore the arguments about a new 5 car train being so much better than an HST

 
Need to deal successfully with capacity pinchpoints first.

There are far too many currently which will severely hinder any attempt to encourage travellers

 
I'd suggest that

Dependable timetables

Great connections

Seats for all travellers

Aircon & heating that actually worked; sufficient fresh air and no toilet pong

Welcoming stations

Great information

Affordable fares

Service frequency to match demand

Information and back-up for when things don't go to plan, with hold-ups resolved fast

Comfortable seats

Clean trains

Would all work to bring more people to travel by train, for whatever reason

But, as things stand at present, I can't see much encouragement to bring about a shift from personal to public transport beyond present levels

 
Leisure, business, commute? How you grow these different sectors can be in conflict. Having this weekend travelled from Reading to Brockenhurst, for Lymington. Cross Country have reinstated the Brockenhurst stop, quite a few got off.

The return journey by SWR was telling on a 444 or 450 didn't check which, classic commuter trains and not suited to most passengers seeming to have two massive suitcases and possibly a buggy. Not to mention an old geezer with a bike cluttering up the place because of inadequate and inappropriate bike storage.

 
Why do people travel by train?  How can we attract more to train travel?

Here is a selection of pictures of passengers whom I have - in many cases hence the crap picture quality - caught in my lens in the last few days. Worthy of thought to ask "why are they travelling", "why are they using the train" and "How [in the UK] can we encourage more passengers travelling for what me might guess are these reasons".