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A change is occurring as a result of so many train tickets being sold with seat reservations combined with the overcrowding on many routes: the west coast mainline springs to mind. People are quite willing to turf someone out of their reserved seat on a train. A few years ago, British reserve and politeness meant that the standard response to finding someone in your seat in any area of life was often met with a shrug while you walked off to find a seat somewhere else. The trains are getting so crowded that nowadays there may not be a seat anywhere else. It's quite good in a way: as conditions get closer to capacity in many areas, regulation is a thing that keeps us just this side of severe problems.