In message , at 00:08:20 on Sat, 8
Jan 2005, D.M. Garner remarked:

The real reason the traffic has grown so much on this particular
journey has been, I think, WAGN's attempts to make it their 'flagship'
service, both through marketing and speed. 10 years ago, the Cambridge
to London train used to stop at millions of minor stations en route,
meaning that the journey took well over an hour. Now, with the (heavily
used) non-stop Cambridge Cruiser, this journey takes 45 minutes.

Only during the day, though. In the rush hour, when the trains are more
crowded, there are only semi-fasts.

Well,
it is timetabled to do so :-) And WAGN have advertised this fact
heavily, and so traffic has increased. They also bought new networker
trains for this service, again giving an impression of quality.

No, they were bough by Network SE in the dying days of BR.

http://www.semg.org.uk/gallery/class365_01.html

Although sadly the trains are beginning to look rather tatty after not
very long in service - but it would help if the cleaners gave them a
good scrub now and again.

Cleaning would help, but they are older than you think. Introduced in
1995.
--
Roland Perry