Short formation

My old blog balaam.wibsite.com can no longer be accessed.

Using the Wayback Machine I am trying to save whatever can be saved, There are no images available for these old blogs.

This blog is from 3 February 2013

Three times this week my train to work has been, in the words of the train company, “short formed.” What should have been a train with six carriages for passengers was reduced to three.

Normally, with the train in long formation there is either room for passengers getting on at Huddersfield to sit, or for most to have a seat with only a few passengers standing. It is at Dewsbury when the train gets crowded. In short formation the same number of passengers have to fit into half the space, making us feel less like commuters and more like sardines.

Not only are the failway companies not providing an adequate service when they short form a train, but they are using a noun as a verb, which is unforgivable.