Letters: civil servants have ruined our trains

Travelling in discomfort

Sir: I don’t agree with much of what Matthew Parris says these days, but he was spot on with his piece about train seats (‘Who’s to blame for my terrible journey?’, 17 August). I think his hunch about where the blame lies for such uncomfortable seats is correct. In these parts, our train service provider is GWR, which has introduced new trains with bum-numbingly unforgiving seats that are wholly unsuited to typical journeys of four to five hours. When questioned, the always helpful staff respond that: ‘This is what happens when you get civil servants to design the trains.’

To add insult to injury, the new GWR trains also have no buffet carriages. Instead there is an elusive, poorly stocked trolley. Again according to the harassed GWR staff, the ‘focus group’ that was relied upon to influence the design of the trains responded positively to the idea of at-seat service, without realising that this meant the end of the buffet.