I knew that there was going to be a problem pretty much as I trundled my weekend bag up the ramp to Bow Street Station.

No, it wasn’t the metre-high ‘Welcome to Hell’ spray painted at the rear of the house where the homeowner is clearly peeved at the new railway station in what was pretty much beyond the back fence.

No, it was the little young lady who is a daughter of the landlord of the Rhydypennau Inn at the top of the village who said that if you wanted to get a seat on the train, better to catch it from Bow Street into Aberystwyth first, then stay on the train and grab a seat for the way out.

She was in a minor tizzy as she’d arrived at the station just as the two-car train was heading into Aberystwyth on Saturday morning, so her plan had gone off the tracks, as it were.

By the time the train arrived at 9:37am, a good 50 per cent of the seats were occupied. There were students going home, teens celebrating birthdays, families going shopping – all the things that are supposed to be fun.

More people got on at Borth, a handful at Dovey Junction, and by the time the train trundled into Machynlleth, it was pretty much standing room only.

That was the last time the man with the catering cart was seen. “If I don’t get it done now, I won’t be able to pass back with all of the people standing,” he said as he doled out teas and coffees.

Clearly, he knew what was to come. And if he knew it, so too did Transport for Wales.

At Caersws, the platform was heavy with passengers, including one family with a teen in a wheelchair trying to fit on to the two carriages.

Social distancing? Sardines in a can have a better chance of keeping apart than what is expected and planned by TfW.

“Stay safe, plan ahead and be a responsible traveller” the company says on the home page of its website.

Plan ahead? Well, for starters, how about putting four cars in the train instead of two. Stay apart, and all of that. Basic – which certainly suggests that TfW are paying lip service to the very notion of “staying safe”.

Fact is, TfW are taking the people of Mid Wales for fools when it comes to train services. Too few carriages for too many people and too few trains, where passengers are seemingly treated as annoyances. Don’t even get me started on the price of tickets. But if the catering man pushing a trolley knows things are bad, then so too do his bosses.

I sat on the train watching it get full to the point of danger – if one person on the train had Covid, then by the time it got to Newtown, we’re talking a serious super-spreader event.

At Welshpool, it took 10 minutes to try and jam everyone on – to the point where I’m thinking of Tokyo subway in rush hour. By then, TtW had given up, with an exasperated train manager saying it would then run express from Shrewsbury with limited stops at Wolverhampton, Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International.

I can understand the reasoning – even if those who wanted to travel to the intervening stations had to make alternative plans.

But it all could have been avoided in the first instance if TfW gave a toss about rail passengers in Mid Wales.

As the catering man poured me tea in Mach, I asked why there wasn’t a four-car train on the service. He didn’t know, but suggested it has something to do with availability.

Availability? Strange, I offered, as the Cambrian Coast service north from Dovey Junction is now very limited due to repairs on the wooden viaduct between Fairbourne and Barmouth. Wouldn’t that mean more rolling stock for other parts of the very limited train service in Mid Wales?

‘Yes’ ought to be the answer: ‘No’ in fact is the answer, simply because TfW seemingly couldn’t give a rats about the people who are willing to put up with their abysmal service and disregard for their health and safety in this time of coronavirus. Or any other time either.

These column inches are not aimed at the hard-pressed staff who serve the snacks, act as guards, who drive the trains, or who service the rolling stock at the yard at Machynlleth. No, they are the unsung heroes in all of this — the ones who get the earful from passengers who are fed up to the teeth at being treated like cattle. No, it is those higher up who made the decision, for instance, to move some of the limited rolling stock south to Cardiff. For them, Wales doesn’t exist above the M4. Why would, for example, some 14 train drivers be left twiddling their thumbs at the Mach yard without having trains to drive?

And when the new rolling stock does come, it will be longer — meaning the old trains will still have to be used on the line north along the coast because platforms at some stations are too short. So much for improved service for places like Barmouth points north.

If Santa Claus is nice come Christmas, he’d do well to deliver the managers at TfW a Hornby model train set — if they’re lucky. It’s about all they could manage…

Come to think of it, if Mark Drakeford wants a cowboy outfit for Christmas, Santa could always give him Transport for Wales.

Maybe that guy who spray-painted his wall has a point after all.