Seat reservations

If seat reservations are to continue, surely it is imperative that they are clearly displayed (either by paper label or electronically) before any passengers start boarding the train?

This would avoid the increasing cases of settling down into a seat which is seen not to be reserved, only to find a few minutes later another passenger claiming the seat as their own. You then look above to see that reservations have now become displayed, leaving you to try and find another seat.

The idea of expanding the availability of advance tickets on a train that has already left its starting point and including a specific seat reservation is unacceptable, and if necessary should be replaced by a reservation onto a particular train but not a specific seat.

Then there is the issue of train journeys curtailed by planned engineering works, with a bus replacement to complete the journey.

Passengers may be unfamiliar with calling points for a particular journey. For example, they may be looking for a train to Kings Lynn. They may see that there is a train to Ely, with added information scrolling underneath that they should change there for a bus to complete their journey.

I believe that it would be more helpful to list the train as the 0900 Ely for Kings Lynn. The danger is that a passenger who is unfamiliar with an area may keep looking for a Kings Lynn train and not take the Ely one.

This is only an example, but was prompted by a recent journey where the driver made good announcements, but would only say it was the train for Ely (and on arrival that the train terminated). There was no mention of Kings Lynn, despite this being the service to that Norfolk town, and it would have been helpful to remind passengers that they should change at Ely for Kings Lynn.

A small point, perhaps, but anything that can be done to improve information to the passenger is welcome. John Parkin, Carshalton