With refranchising on hold for many months, I do not expect anything other than minor matters to change in the next few years and you can shout as much as you like but almost certainly in vain.
Depressing view ... no reason not to make inputs. If no one even tried to coordinate the inputs from the travelling public, then we couldn't hold the goverment, local authorities, train operators, Network Rail and others to account if they were to allow stagnation.
With various schemes underway such as Crossrail, Reading, Electrification to Oxford / Newbury / Bristol / South Wales and
IEP▸ , and Swindon - Kemble redoubling, there are big waves that will wash over the shores of the other stations and services in the same pond too. In some cases it would / will be downright illogical to minimise the beneficial effects on connectional and associative services on the same tracks by leaving them as unaltered as possible, a dis-service to any incoming operator who would be dealt a poorer hand, a yoke to the taxpayer in supporting something that's no longer logical or best (even if it was in the past), and a failure by politicians and decision makers to take benefit from something that could be very popular indeed. I'm not suggesting completely new schemes, but rather topics already under discussion - costed options, perhaps already financed, and the result of the look beyond Newbury that Simon Burns has set in motion.
By the way - who said
shouting? This may well be the time for clear, well reasoned inputs which are hard to argue against, rather than yelling. Proving help not generating a headache for the authorities. After all - we're all on the same side in looking to make the very best public travel for passengers, and encouraging that public transport usage, at a sensible cost for all.
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