Think about this.......it's just before 17.00 on a Wednesday afternoon

and this is the scene at Derby station; where is everybody? Close examination of the photograph reveals just two people with it appearing more like a 'where's Whally' scene than a busy interchange station! This is what two years of COVID has done to the railways and I have to ask if things will return to pre-pandemic conditions? My feeling is that the railways will have to recognise this and realise that the peak is now the leisure market rather than to commuter. However, the railways are notoriously slow at changing their mindset with the undertaking of engineering work at weekends and public holidays being a great example of something that can now and needs to change.