RE: PREPARATION, anticipation, frustration. With another round of eagerly anticipated autumn rugby internationals set to run through November, aside from a collective fingers crossed across much of Gwent, rugby fans and rail users will be preparing themselves for the ordeal of trying to get into Cardiff on overcrowded or full trains.

I have no doubt that the franchise holder will run short trains, which by the time they reach Gwent (eg. Abergavenny, Pontypool, Cwmbran, Chepstow, Caldicot, Severn Tunnel Junction and Newport) will be so full of people that new passengers cannot board.

Every year in recent years, it has been the same with the same old excuses being rolled out by the franchise holders why there was no space, why the trains were short, etc.

The real reason for the shoddy service is about profits. Extra trains and carriages have to be rented and this hits profits and dividends.

The day that the rail franchise (in Wales and the marches) is run as a not for dividend profit franchise cannot come soon enough. Jonathan T Clark, Plaid Cymru Parliamentary Candidate for Monmouth Constituency