I know that they must reduce the number of catalogue references, but if you're willing to sell trains you have to listen the customer tipical needs.
Andy, you're right on the point that a parent would buy just one or two "mixed boxes" for his child to upgrade his layout, so these mixed boxes may be more attractive "to be sold as a toy". Anyhow, it's also well known that train customers use to upgrade and upgrade their layouts (there isn't enough track in the galaxy for my needs ), and the bigger they grow, the more straight they need. So, I think it's not foolish to demand them 8x or 16x packs with only stright track
Flextrack is not so bad from my point of view, and can be used as straight, but to be honest, I don't find it a real alternative. Maybe we would get used to it, who knows?
So... what do we have ambassadors for? Yes, I can contact LEGO, but our ambassadors should listen to our wills, and let them know how do their products meet our needs
Edit: I read here they're considering the straight pack ;)